I May Lose Everything
by Gaby Black
Summary: Lily and James progressively get closer as a mysterious pro-pureblood society develops and challenges everyone's morals and beliefs and divides the students. As Voldemort rises to power in the outside world, in Hogwarts life goes on and the Marauders' Map is lost, friendships are formed and Sirius finally takes interest in a girl. (JP/LE, SB/OC)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters (except for a few OCs a created - most of them will be minor characters), spells, places etc mentioned, they are all JK Rowling's. This is JK Rowling's universe. I am not making any money out of this story.

 **Genre:** drama, general, romance (pairings: James/Lily, Sirius/OC), with some humour and angst as well.

 **Author's note: Please let me know your thoughts, that would be really appreciated. Thank you! The title of the story is taken from the great HP-themed song by Ministry of Magic. I am taking part in the BBC Sherlock challenge on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges forums.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **PURITAS**

 **Join like-minded pureblood wizards and witches for an evening of discussions this Saturday at 8pm. If you are new and interested in joining us, wear your scarf bearing your house colours tomorrow, and we will come to you to give you the location of the meeting. Because of the nature of the issues at stake, we require that all details regarding Puritas shall be kept in absolute secrecy by everyone.**

 **We look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow.**

The dark-haired boy finished writing the twenty-fourth note with a sigh of relief. He pulled his Slytherin scarf tightly around his neck and smiled. This was all going according to plan.

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me," Lily muttered to herself.

Lily gave a great, world-weary sigh as she headed towards where Madam Pomfrey was standing. Here was James Potter, chatting with Madam Pomfrey as if they were life-long friends and looking like he owned the place.

"What are you doing here?"

Madam Pomfrey stared at Lily, undoubtedly shocked by her harsh tone. Lily had been helping out at the Hospital Wings since classes had resumed the month before, after the Christmas holidays. She wanted to be a Healer once school was finished and, even if she still had a year and a half left of it, she was so motivated that Professor McGonagall had spoken with Madam Pomfrey and they had arranged this. Lily being a Prefect and an outstanding student had of course played in her favour. Mostly she was there to observe, but she felt like it was a step in the right direction.

"I'm going to go fetch your potion," Madam Pomfrey said.

With another curious glance at Lily, Madam Pomfrey left. James cleared his throat.

"My dad had a bout of Dragon Pox that started in December," James said. "My mum and I've been taking this potion to prevent contagion. There's a long incubation period so I've got to take it once a week, for a few more weeks still."

"Sorry, I didn't know," Lily said quietly, looking down.

She felt a bit ashamed of herself. She had assumed James was there because he had hexed someone and it had gone horribly wrong, or because one of his pranks had had an unexpected effect and he had turned a first year into a parrot. She hadn't thought it could be something serious. She saw James as kind of a terribly irritating version of Superman.

"He's out of the woods now, so they say, but you never know at his age," James said.

Lily raised her eyebrows and James shrugged.

"He's turning seventy this year."

"Oh, I - I had no idea, I mean-"

"You mean you had no idea my dad was an old geezer," James said, grinning. "Don't worry, I get that a lot. They had me really late in life. My mum's two years younger than my dad, but she acts like she's fifty. She's very active. Thank Merlin she didn't catch it, but we've got to be really careful."

Now that she thought about it, Lily realised that James's level of annoyance had massively decreased since they had all come back from the Christmas holidays. Lately, when she got annoyed with James, it was either purely out of habit, or because he said something stupid while she was already grumpy, like in the early morning before she had her first coffee, or after receiving the odd dry letter from her sister. It was no longer because of him, not really. And she was starting to see that unfortunately, there were worse things and worse people than James Potter in this world. She actually missed the days when she believed that Potter was the enemy.

"Evans? Are you listening?"

James was frowning, like someone who isn't used to not being listened to, and doesn't understand what is happening. Lily realised she had been lost in thoughts while James was still talking. She winced apologetically. Madam Pomfrey had come back and given James the potion. Lily looked away as he drank it, feeling like she was intruding. She knew she was blushing, and thinking about it just made it worse, so she tried to concentrate on work as Madam Pomfrey gave her some explanations about the potion. After a while, James stood up, thanked Madam Pomfrey and turned to Lily with a smile so strange that Lily understood that he felt at least as embarrassed as she did.

"Thanks," James said earnestly to his shoes.

"Don't mention it, Potter," Lily said with a curt nod at James's shoes.

The shoes walked away, leaving Lily to ponder the new-found vulnerability of James Potter.

* * *

"Why don't your socks match?"

Sirius's hands stopped fiddling with the small glass bottle they were handling, but he didn't answer his friend's question. He did, however, give a perfunctory glance at his left foot — blue sock, and then at his right foot — white sock.

"Moony, can't you see I'm _busy_?"

Sirius returned his gaze to the cauldron below him, pouring the leech juice inside.

"Padfoot, you've been in a right state since Friday. If you hadn't been playing and rolling around with the wolf all night long, you wouldn't be so tired," James said, smirking.

"It's not my fault, the wolf wouldn't leave me alone," Sirius said exasperatedly, "it's like he just _wanted_ me-"

Sirius trailed off abruptly, realising how that sounded. But it was too late; Peter and James were both hunched over in great gasps of laughter. Remus stood next to them, cheeks slightly flushed, the corners of his mouth fighting against a smile.

"Stop laughing, you morons," Sirius said. "I can't concentrate."

James stopped laughing suddenly. Peter took a look at James and then stopped, too. Sirius stifled a yawn. His grey eyes were bloodshot and he was blinking more often than usual. Only the thought of the prank kept him out of bed past midnight that night.

"I've just had a very disturbing, _vivid_ image of Padfoot and the wolf, you know — together." James wrinkled his nose, looking from Sirius to Remus. "Now it's not so funny anymore."

"Gross," Peter commented.

"Can you please stop talk talking about that?" Remus said mildly. "I want to be able to look at Sirius in the eye again."

"And I want you all to be quiet so that I can get this done." Sirius brushed the hair out of his eyes with one hand, his other hand stirring the potion. "I'm flattered everyone's celebrating my masculinity as both human and dog, but we need to concentrate. Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty — here we go."

Sirius stopped stirring the potion and the four boys looked down at the liquid, its colour a strange shade of beige.

"Isn't it supposed to be light brown?" Peter said.

"Shut up, Wormtail," Sirius said. "And just wait a moment, will you. You trust me, right?"

Sirius's eyes met three blank faces.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Remus said. "But you don't want to hear the answer to that."

They managed to remain silent for a full five minutes, which was an achievement reserved for prank purposes. The potion's colour had got a bit darker and could now be considered light brown. Sirius tucked a strand of long black hair behind his ear and sniffed haughtily.

"See, light brown. If only you lot had a bit of faith in me. Moony, the vial?"

Remus passed a small vial to Sirius, who poured the potion into it with a satisfied and slightly devilish smile.

"Well done, Padfoot," James said, nodding.

"For the record, I would like to repeat that I did not agree with the choice of subject for this prank," Remus said.

Sirius groaned.

"Are you sure Spoilsport isn't your middle name?"

"That's enough," James said, quietly but firmly. "Is everyone clear on the delivery method?"

They all nodded and James pocketed the vial.

"Can't wait for tomorrow," James said with a dreamy smile, as the four boys started walking back towards Gryffindor Tower. "It's been a while we didn't play with old Snivellus. Padfoot, is the coast clear?"

Sirius took the Map out of his pocket and glanced at it. There were no dots in the Gryffindor common room; it appeared all the students were in their dormitories. No one was anywhere on the way to the common room, either.

"All clear," Sirius said.

They remained silent during the following few minutes, and they entered the Gryffindor common room just before one o'clock. In order not to attract attention, they kept both noise and light to a minimum. The only light came from the tip of Peter's wand. Peter being the clumsy one, he was usually the one carrying the light, the other three being able to walk around safely with the faint glow around them. However, it didn't mean there weren't the occasional slip-ups. Remus yelped in pain as he bumped in an armchair, which he believed was not at its usual place.

Remus bit his lip, holding his leg, "Damn armchair."

"Language, Moony," Sirius whispered.

Sirius's glee at being able to tell off Remus for swearing was obvious to the other three, even though they could not see his face properly in the dark.

" _Accio_ parchment!"

Sirius jumped as the Marauders' Map flew from his hands and landed in the firm grip of Venusta Vance, who had been standing in the dark by the staircase leading to the girls' dormitories, her tall and athletic frame now visible in the dim glow of Peter's wand as he pointed it towards her. She lit up her wand to look at the parchment.

"What is this?" Venus whispered to herself, a curious smile lighting up her face as writing began to appear on the parchment.

 _Mr Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present THE MARAUDERS' MAP_

 _Mr Prongs and Mr Moony send their warm regards_

Venus stared at the words appearing on the parchment, torn between suspicion and awe at what the boys had apparently created. She wondered if it was a map of Hogwarts and its secret passages, which they seemed to know much better than she did. She really liked her female friends, but she had to admit that their risk-taking, or rather, risk-avoiding, approach of life at school was not always to her taste.

 _Mr Padfoot would like to invite Miss Vance to kindly sod off and take care of her business_

"Give that back to me, Venusta," Sirius snarled.

Venus chose not to reply. Knowing her since they were children, he was perfectly aware of the fact that she didn't like her full name and preferred being called Venus. Which was exactly why Sirius often used her full name. Both of them were pure bloods and therefore somehow related, although they didn't even know which distant relatives they had in common. Venus's family did not have anything to do with the Blacks anyway. In the Vances' house, they were only mentioned as examples of a noble family that had turned out horribly wrong.

" _Accio_ map!" Sirius said, raising his wand towards her. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

There was a loud meowing, which made Peter jump slightly.

"I could ask you the same question!"

Venus looked outraged, but decided to answer anyway.

"I couldn't sleep, and then Shadow started pestering me to let her out so I came down here."

Shadow, Venus's black cat which she had got just before starting Hogwarts six years ago, had developed a fondness for Sirius early on, for reasons that escaped both her owner and the subject of her affections. Shadow trotted about to where Sirius was standing and started rubbing up against Sirius's legs, purring.

"And - how surprisingly," Venus said, "I find you four here. What the hell are you doing? Going to lose points for Gryffindor again? And what is this… is it a map of Hogwarts? How did you do it?"

"This is none of your business," Sirius snapped, trying to shoo the cat away.

"Oh, yes, Black, it is. Unfortunately, I happen to be in the same house as you. But if you do something — _whatever_ , I'll go and wake Lily up, and we'll go straight to McGonagall tomorrow."

At the mention of Lily, James's eyes lit up.

"But we haven't done anything, have we?" James said innocently, speaking for the first time. "We were just taking a walk."

Venus glared at them suspiciously, knowing that they were up to something. But her fondness for James and Remus, and the fact that she secretly wished they would let her be a part of whatever they were doing prevented her from taking any action. The threat of telling on them was merely for Sirius's benefit.

"Go back to bed, Venusta," Sirius said. "You wouldn't want to be sleeping during class tomorrow, now would you?"

But Venus stood still, staring at them severely.

"I will do whatever I want. I will stay here until you go to bed."

"Wait, I recognise this," Sirius said, pointing an accusatory finger at Venus.

Venus was wearing a white and red hoodie with the English Quidditch team symbol, and Scott McCormack's name on the back. McCormack was the best Chaser in the world at the moment — if you listened to James and Venus, anyway. It looked suspiciously identical to the one James used to wear.

"Come on, Padfoot, it's not a big deal." James shrugged as Sirius scowled at him and made a face which was code for 'it's weird and you know it'. "She liked it and it got a bit too small for me so I gave it to her."

Sirius couldn't help wondering if Venus was wearing anything else underneath it. He immediately felt like slapping himself.

"Heavens be praised, little Jimmy's finally had his growth spurt," Venus said, smirking. "You're about my height now, well done you."

"A little bit taller," James said, wounded.

"You two are so weird," Sirius said, shaking his head.

"Just because you don't have the maturity required to be friends with a girl, doesn't mean no one else has," Venus said.

Sirius smiled smugly, spreading his arms.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, Vance, but being friends isn't what girls usually want with me."

"Because you're a pain in the arse, that's why," Venus muttered.

"If only they knew better," Remus said, exchanging a grin with James.

"Anyway, don't try and distract me," Venus said to the room at large. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on."

"Look, if you promise not to tell, we can let you in on it," James said.

"I promise."

"By the way, I can't believe you didn't look at the Map again to double check no one was here," James said, shaking his head at Sirius.

"Tell her?" Sirius said, obviously choosing to ignore James's last words. "No way! Snivellus is ours, and ours only."

"She could provide a good distraction," James stage-whispered to Sirius. "You know, with her, erm, considerable assets."

James waggled his eyebrows and Peter tried but failed to stifle a giggle.

"James, are you referring to my breasts?" Venus said, scowling at James.

"Well, that depends on whether Snape is a tits or arse kind of bloke."

"Excuse me while I vomit," Sirius said.

Both Sirius and Venus actually looked like they had smelt something foul. Venus ran a hand through her long dark hair.

"James, stop being disgusting," Venus said.

"Sorry. But actually, we could really use your help, if you want. It's nothing really, you'd just have to say a couple of words to Snape and that's it, Peter will do the rest. And then in Transfiguration class, the fun will start."

* * *

"What are we doing tonight?" Sirius asked the next morning, his mouth full of food.

"I thought we could explore that tunnel we discovered last night, behind the Blind Wizard's statue," James replied excitedly.

"Oh, guys, couldn't we just rest for once? If we continue like that, you'll have to drag me you-know-where in a few weeks."

Remus kept his voice was low, as he was still afraid that someone would discover his secret. Thanks to James, most of his classmates believed he just had a problem with a badly behaved rabbit.

"Fine," James said, sighing. "We'll go without you."

"Hmm, we're forgetting something, Prongs," Sirius said. "Quidditch practice."

"Oh, right," James said. "By the way, I have to tell Venus about the new tactic I came up with."

"Couldn't you just tell her to go to hell and send us a postcard?" Sirius suggested hopefully.

"Sirius, she's the best Chaser in the team. After me, of course."

"I know," Sirius said, scowling.

Venus was one of the only girls in the school that didn't seem to be affected by his charm, and that just pissed him off. Which was ironic, since the other girls' attentions, when he did notice them, never kept him interested for very long.

"And try to be nicer to her," James said. "You know she's my friend."

Sirius growled and spilt some of his pumpkin juice on James's plate, but James didn't seem to mind as the object of his affection had just sat down a few seats away.

"Hi, Lily!" James said.

James had turned his full attention to her and, as usual when Lilly was around, his whole face had changed imperceptibly, becoming softer somehow. Lily was accompanied by her two Muggle-born friends from their year, Mary McDonald and Anna Ripperton.

"Oh, here are the twins," Lily said, scowling at James and Sirius. "Potter, just try to get through breakfast without doing anything stupid, won't you? I think you've lost enough points for Gryffindor for a lifetime."

James shrugged non-committally, not wanting to lie but not wishing to reveal the fact that they were going to pull a prank on Snape before leaving the Great Hall. For a few minutes, the boys sat in comfortable silence, enjoying their food.

At one point, Sirius noticed that Venus had come in and sat down a few seats away. Sirius thought about how annoying it was that Venus had interrupted them last night and had found out about the Map. On the other hand, he had to admit she was going to provide a very nice looking distraction indeed. She had beautiful wide almond shaped eyes hovering between green and yellow, which distracted the eye from her slightly long nose. Sirius's gaze travelled across Venus's face to her full and inviting mouth. He felt his pulse quicken as he suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss her.

"I was wondering why you were so quiet this morning, but now I've got the answer," Remus whispered, leaning confidentially towards him.

Sirius startled; Remus was smiling kindly at him with just a hint of tease in his eyes. Sirius punched Remus lightly in the arm.

"No idea what you mean," Sirius said.

"Yeah, I would be surprised if you did," Remus said, laughing.

"You'd better stop this now, if you want to be OK for tonight. Why are so interested in Vance, anyway? Do you like her?" Sirius said, to try and direct the focus of the attention to Remus.

To Sirius's surprise, Remus blushed slightly. Remus looked around quickly to make sure no one outside their group was within earshot.

"It's not that I like her as such," Remus said. "It's just, well, you know — she's really beautiful."

"Foxy," Peter said.

Sirius snorted.

"Wormtail, no one says foxy since 1968."

"And she's really cool," James added.

"She is," Peter said.

"I mean, I'm not saying I like her in the way you mean," Remus said. "She's too much of a drama queen for me. And high maintenance. Not to mention that she's miles, if not light years, out of my league. But I can't say that she doesn't have any effect on me."

Sirius looked surprised.

"Really? What about you, Prongs?"

Sirius turned to his best friend, but he already knew there would be no support there. James shrugged.

"I wouldn't ever want to do anything with her, that would be too weird," James said, wrinkling his nose. "But I'd be lying if I said I haven't looked at her that way once or twice. Most of the time I don't even notice it, but she's hot, there's no other way to put it."

James laughed at Sirius's shocked face.

"Oh, come on, Padfoot, don't tell me you've never even thought about it."

Sirius leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Never in a million years."

James and Peter sniggered and started talking about the upcoming Quidditch match. But Remus was still staring at Sirius, an amused smile lingering on his face. Sometimes Remus's perspicacity was a gift and sometimes, it was the most infuriating thing in the world.

* * *

Once Venus had finished her breakfast, she caught James's eye across the Gryffindor table, and smiled. She was excited to take part to a Marauders prank, even if it was a small prank, and she had only a small role in it. As planned, Venus and Peter stood up. Peter held a glass of pumpkin juice in his hand. Venus made her way towards the Slytherin table, Peter on her heels. Snape was sitting by himself, a few seats away from a big group of loud fourth year boys. Venus took a deep breath and tried to ignore the wave of repulsion she felt the few times she had to speak to Severus Snape.

"Good morning, Severus," Venus said.

Venus felt very strange saying that name. They had never been on a first name basis. Having not seen her arrive and surprised at being addressed this way, Snape almost choked on his pastry.

"What do you want, Vance?"

Snape was frowning and squinting at her. Venus flashed him a smile, leaning against the table. She tossed her hair to the side and fluttered her eyelashes.

"I know you are amazingly good at Potions," Venus said. "And, well, I'm not that good, I could do with a bit of help. I was wondering if you would accept to help me?"

Snape's eyes were now only two black lines. His jaw was clenched and he glanced briefly behind Venus at the Gryffindor table.

"And what makes you think I would help you?" Snape said coldly.

Venus leant forward and placed a hand on Snape's arm, stroking it lightly, making sure Snape's eyes were on her.

"I think we could find an arrangement," Venus whispered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Venus saw Peter behind Snape, switching his glass with Snape's pumpkin juice glass on the table. Snape's face turned even whiter than it usually was.

"Leave me alone," Snape snapped, finally turning away from her.

Venus let go of Snape's arm and straightened up, with a shrug.

"You're missing out," Venus said. "Well, I'll see you later."

Venus could hardly contain her laughter as she walked out of the Great Hall. Nobody noticed Peter discarding Snape's glass at the end of the Slytherin table and then leaving. As Peter himself had said the night before, nobody usually noticed him much. The Transfiguration class started just a few minutes later. Professor McGonagall absolutely refused to let the Marauders sit together during her lessons, and every week she reshuffled the class's seating plan in order not to let them 'contaminate' always the same classmates. That week, the seat next to Sirius was assigned to Venus.

"You got lucky, you got the best looking one," Sirius said, winking, as she sat down next to him.

Venus sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? What have I said?" Sirius said.

"I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you're speaking, but it's usually subtext."

Venus then pretended to listen to McGonagall as their teacher started talking about another of the terrible consequences of human Transfiguration gone wrong. Venus tried not to look at Sirius. He looked very handsome indeed as he lounged back in his chair and did his best impression of an attentive student. She spent the first minutes of the class eagerly waiting for Snape to open his mouth.

"It should have taken effect by now," Sirius whispered to her, having noticed she kept glancing at Snape. "He just needs to start speaking."

"I never thought I'd ever look at Snape so many times on purpose. I feel like I need to wash my eyeballs now."

Venus wrinkled her nose in disgust and smiled as Sirius snorted. McGonagall stopped mid-sentence and turned towards them.

"Black, Vance, I am glad to see you two not arguing for once, but there will be no flirting either during my lessons, do you understand?"

All their classmates' heads turned towards Venus and Sirius. Venus was shocked both by the fact that someone though she and Sirius Black were actually flirting, and by hearing McGonagall say the word "flirting". Lily, who was sitting in the front row next to Peter, gave Venus a quizzical look.

"Yes, Professor," Venus said through gritted teeth. "Wasn't flirting anyway."

"Clear as a bell, Professor," Sirius said, and smiled brightly. "Absolutely sorry about the interruption."

McGonagall's stern frown faltered slightly.

"Yes, well. No more interruptions, or Black, you will just have to sit by yourself like an unruly six-year old."

A couple of minutes later, McGonagall finally asked the class a question for which Snape raised his hand to answer. Venus held her breath as McGonagall nodded at Snape for him to give his answer.

"You've gone potty because of the green carrot," Snape said.

There was a stunned silence. Snape's eyes widened and he shook his head. McGonagall scowled at him.

"I beg your pardon?" McGonagall said.

"I've gone up the roof, it's the mushy mushroom!"

Snape's voice got higher with every word and he was staring back at McGonagall, transfixed, and shaking his head frantically. James started laughing, soon followed by most students, even a couple of Slytherins.

"No, no! It's the baba — babo — baboon! The cute one with the haircut, crawling up my skin, eating Butterbeer with a melon. He can't do that, lalala, chicken poo!"

Snape had stood up and was wailing his arms about, looking like a mad man.

"Somebody take Mr Snape to the Hospital Wing right now," McGonagall said. "A Prefect? The only explanation I can think of is that Mr Snape drank some Babbling beverage, I am sure Madam Pomfrey will know how to stop its effects."

A Slytherin Prefect stood up and took Snape's arm and dragged him out of the classroom. Snape was still muttering gibberish under his breath and looked positively furious. Venus and Sirius, shaking with silent laughter, exchanged a look and gave each other a high five under the table.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

During the next few weeks, Venus found herself often thinking about the mysterious map that she had snatched from the boys. She had a lot of questions and among those were: what did they use it for? She really hoped that they never used it to stalk anyone or check what everyone was up to. She was uncomfortable with the idea that they might be able to see where she was and who she was with, at any time. The most worrying part was that Sirius Black may have access to that information. During lessons, after class and during the weekends, Venus watched the Marauders, hoping to get another glimpse of the map, or maybe find out where they stored it — although they most likely kept it somewhere in their dormitories. But she did not see the map again, until the last weekend of March brought long-awaited sun. Most people were outside enjoying the sunshine, and Venus found Remus in the otherwise empty common room. Remus was on his way out and she walked towards him.

"Aren't you outside, then?" Remus said.

"No, actually I wanted to catch up on some homework," Venus lied.

Venus was going to do all she could to get in Remus's good books. She flashed him a smile and casually put her arm around his waist as they exited the common room. She felt Remus's back stiffen at her touch and saw his cheeks colouring slightly.

"I was wondering about that map," Venus whispered, leaning in towards Remus.

"What map?" Remus said weakly.

Venus shook her head.

"That's not going to work, Remus."

Remus sighed.

"I can't tell you about it," Remus said.

"Oh, come on," Venus said. "Please? It looks awesome!"

She squeezed his arm playfully.

"I can't, my mates would kill me," Remus said, smiling.

Venus smiled back and held up her hands in defeat.

"All right, all right. But can I at least take a quick look at it? Just to see what you can see on it. I just want to make sure it is nothing illegal or immoral, you know."

Remus's eyes widened at her implied threat that she could go and report them. They were still walking together and had reached an empty corridor.

"OK, I guess, but then let's be really quick. I will show you, but then you promise you won't tell anyone, ever?"

Venus smiled.

"I promise."

Remus took out the map from his robes and tapped it with his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Remus said.

Words began appearing. Remus put away the map for a moment as he entangled himself from Venus's arm, as he felt like he could not think completely clearly.

"Really?" Venus said, laughing. "That's your catch phrase?"

Just as Remus turned to her to reply, they heard quick steps behind them.

"Stop! What do we have here?"

It was Filch. Remus froze in his tracks. The irony was not lost on him that if he had not been so distracted by Venus, he would have seen Filch coming on the map.

"Mischief managed!" Remus muttered hurriedly, pointing at the map.

"Stop what you're doing!"

Filch growled as he stepped towards them and grabbed the map, which was now just an empty parchment.

"What's this then?" Filch asked, waving the map in front of Remus's face.

"Dunno," Remus said.

Filch turned to Venus. She shrugged.

"Ah, that's the way you want to play it," Filch said. "All right, all right, never mind. I'll give this to one of the Professors then and see if they can get something out of it. In the meantime, you two are going to spend a _lot_ of time together — in detention."

Filch gave a satisfied chuckle. Remus's brain had frozen and he could not even bear to think how his friends would react.

"Oh go on, on your way, both of you," Filch said, waving them away and turning to go in the opposite direction, the Marauders' Map safely in his pockets.

As soon as Filch had gone, Venus stopped looking at the floor and glanced at Remus. He looked so lost that she felt a pang of guilt.

"I'm sorry," Venus said. "Really, really sorry. I didn't mean for it to get caught, I just - I was just curious."

Remus said nothing and started walking away. Venus followed him, biting her lip.

"I swear, I didn't mean to."

"My friends are going to be furious," Remus said without looking at her. "You have no idea."

"Tell them it's my fault!"

Remus goggled at her. He could not remember ever seeing such an apologetic expression on Venus's face before.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, we both know it wouldn't have happened if I had not used — _this_ as a weapon," Venus said, gesturing at her body. "And that wasn't really fair to you."

Remus blushed and sniggered.

"Sometimes you remind me so much of Sirius," Remus said to cover his embarrassment.

Venus shot him a mock death stare.

"And here I was being nice to you," Venus said, but she was smiling. "Look, really, let's tell them the truth, that I pestered you until you showed the map to me, and as for Filch, well — we were just terribly unlucky."

"Story of my life," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

Remus made to walk away, but Venus caught his arm.

"I'm sorry, Remus," Venus said. "I mean it. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"Well, if you have a few years to spend to recreate that map, that would be helpful. Otherwise - I guess I would like to ask you something about Sirius."

Remus thought about it for a while. He noticed Venus's smile had faded, but was waiting as patiently as she could.

"I'm not going to ask you to be nice to him, it's not really my place to do so. And I know how annoying he can be sometimes. But - there are things you don't know about him. So, no matter how angry he makes you, please don't use his family against him. It hurts him more than he'd care to admit."

Venus took a deep breath. It was hardly something a decent person could refuse.

"OK, I won't," Venus said. "It's not that I _want_ to hurt him, you know. Anyway, I know you just lost your map but — you're such a good friend to them."

Remus smiled sadly.

"Maybe later I'll ask you to come and argue for my defence. In the meantime, I think I need to tell them myself."

* * *

Later that night, in their dormitories, just as Remus was trying to find the best way to bring up the topic of the Map, James, Peter and Sirius brought forward one of their favourite topics: pestering Remus about which girls he fancied. After five minutes of suggestions from their side, ranging from an offended "is it Lily?" from James to a ludicrous "McGonagall?" from Sirius, Remus had enough.

"Fine. I used to like Laura Higgins," Remus said. "But then I was told her Boggart's a werewolf, so…"

"Yeah, that might be a problem," James said.

"Anyway, I already told you many times. Werewolves are not supposed to mate."

" _Mate_?" Sirius made a face. "Moony, why can't you say sex like a normal person?"

"Because I'm not a normal person, Sirius, am I?" Remus said, harshly.

"You are to us!"

That seemed to mollify Remus. He smiled at Sirius, who was looking at him expectantly.

"All right, I'll say it. Sex. Happy now?"

His face slightly flushed, Remus stood up from his bed and started pacing around the room, aware that his time was limited until his friends would stop being so nice to him.

"Anyway, it's not like any of us is getting any action," James said.

" _I_ am," Sirius said.

"You were," James said. "Four months ago."

"Three times."

"And she won't talk to you since then."

"That was by common understanding," Sirius sniffed. "I wasn't interested in pursuing the opportunity further, and neither was she. And you would get your fair share of action too, if you weren't saving yourself for 'the right girl'!"

Sirius produced a cough that sounded suspiciously like "Evans!". James threw his pillow at him.

"Well, I'd like to get some action myself," Peter said. "But I just don't know how to go about it."

Sirius looked earnestly at Remus and James.

"Has any of you had the Talk with Peter?"

"Hell, no," James said.

Remus shook his head, stifling a laugh. Sirius gave a great sigh and turned to Peter.

"So, you see, Wormtail, when a man and a woman-"

"I know all that!" Peter interrupted, flustered.

The other three burst out laughing.

"Sorry, Pete," Remus said. "That was an easy joke to make. Don't worry, I don't know much more than you about how to approach girls."

"I could give you both lessons," Sirius said. "Three galleons an hour. I'd recommend a course of three hours for you, Moony. Two hours to dismiss your "werewolves can't mate" bullshit, the other hour to remove the broom that's stuck up your arse."

James snickered and Remus rolled his eyes.

"And for you, Wormtail, I think we may need about ten hours."

"You're a bastard," Peter said.

"I know it probably _looks_ like I am, but really, I'm… no, OK, I guess you have a point."

Figuring that it was better to tell his friends before they asked about the map, Remus gathered his courage and took the opportunity to tell them what had happened.

Sirius was the one who seemed the most disappointed by the loss of the map. Unbeknownst to Sirius, during the past few months his three friends had slowly started to grow out of their pranks and various mischiefs. They still enjoyed it, but they had less time for it now and it was not as important to them as it was to Sirius. However, the map still represented years of work and fond memories, not to mention the pride they felt for it.

"I can't believe you lost the Map because of Vance, of all people," Sirius said. "I mean, Remus, I know you haven't had much action lately when it comes to girls but — come on, it's just ridiculous."

"It has nothing to do with how much 'action' I've had lately," Remus protested.

"Well, clearly you weren't thinking with your brain at that point," James sneered.

There was a short silence. Remus had been hoping that James would somehow understand. After all, it could have happened to James, if Lily had been the one distracting him, or maybe even with Venus. As James was the unofficial leader of the group, collective action tended to follow James's opinion. But James was scowling at him, arms crossed over his chest. Remus sighed.

"Look, I'd be upset too if I were you, but, please try to put yourselves in my shoes," Remus said. "It could've happened to any of us."

And some of them had done much worse things in the past, that had been forgiven, Remus thought, like Sirius and his "prank" on Snape. But Remus was so desperate not to further upset his friends that he said nothing more, and just walked away.

* * *

The following couple of weeks were a pain for Remus. His friends kept him out of their conversations and jokes. They sometimes tolerated his presence, but would not really talk to him. As a result, Remus spent more time by himself, either reading, studying or taking walks. He also spent some time with other people, especially with Lily. Unfortunately, that seemed to annoy James even more. He therefore tried to meet her where James would not see them, which was why the library was a good place for them to meet.

The Saturday after Easter, James and Lily were invited to a dinner organised by Professor Slughorn. James and Lily were both part of the Slug Club. Sirius used to be, until he moved out of his family home. After that, Professor Slughorn seemed to consider him less worthy of his attention. Sirius had almost never participated to any gatherings anyway, considering them not worthy of his time. Remus and Peter had never been invited. James only went to a meeting when Lily went as well, as the only reason why he was even part of the club was to spend time with her. That Saturday evening, James and Lily were the only Gryffindors who had committed to go to the dinner.

"So it would make sense if we went together, you know, from the common room," James had told Lily. "Shall we meet there at quarter to seven?"

And that was how Lily had found herself getting ready while James Potter was waiting for her downstairs. It felt strangely like a date. Actually, Lily had to repeat a dozen times to James that it was not actually a date, with James nodding his head and saying "of course, of course". Lily stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a red jumper and a sensible, knee length black skirt underneath her robes. She liked to look nice of course, but she did not want to give James any ideas. Lily saw that Anna was looking at her, smiling.

"I've just been downstairs, James is waiting for you," Anna said. "Let me know how it goes."

"Let you know how what goes?" Lily asked, as she made to leave the room.

"This 'not-a-date thing'," Anna said, giggling.

"It's a dinner with eight other people," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Plus a Professor."

Lily went down the stairs and as she arrived in the common room she noticed that Remus was again on his own, looking absorbed in his book. Sirius and Peter were sitting at the other end of the room, chatting with other Gryffindor boys. James was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, playing with a Snitch. He smiled and cleared his throat as she reached him.

"You look nice," James said.

Lily tried to ignore the fact that most people around them were looking at them not-so-discreetly.

"Thanks, Potter - I mean, James. Shall we go?"

Lily could not miss Sirius giving James the thumbs up as they left. She tried to hide her smile.

"Look," James said. "Why don't we try something new tonight? I could try not to annoy you or make a fool of myself, and you could try giving me a chance to be your friend. How does that sound?"

Lily was taken aback. She tried to think of the last time James had said something so reasonable to her, but could not think of anything.

"Sure," Lily said calmly. "That works for me."

"Great," James said, smiling.

Lily took advantage of this uncommon situation to ask him if they had had an argument with Remus.

"I tried asking Remus what was wrong, but the only thing he'd tell me is that he'd done something he shouldn't have done and that you were all upset with him now."

"Yes," James said. "I won't go into details but let's just say he made a mistake."

"I wish you'd forgive him," Lily said. "It's clear he's miserable without you guys."

James sighed.

"I guess we will. We just — need some time, that's all. Don't worry about it."

James would never admit it, but he had always been rather jealous of the friendship between Lily and Remus and how well they got on.

* * *

The dinner was going quite well, until Regulus Black chose to mention the current events. The discussion was slipping towards themes that neither James nor Lily wanted to discuss with Slytherin students, or with their potions Professor. Regulus was speaking rather eloquently, his grey eyes, so similar to his brother's, surveying the people around him as if trying to assess what he could or could not say.

"It would make sense though," Regulus said. "I mean, I don't think anyone can argue that the Muggles have any idea what's going on."

The six Slytherins snorted as one.

"Of course they don't," Avery said.

"We wizards-"

"Can we stop talking about this?" James interrupted.

James's face was red and his hand was gripping the table. He pointedly refused to look at Snape, who was unfortunately placed right in front of him. The only thing making up for this was that he had been placed next to Lily.

"Why, Potter? Are you afraid your eloquence stops short if you are not allowed to use insults?" Snape sneered.

The only thing that prevented James from snarling back at Snape was that Lily put her hand on his thigh underneath the table. James turned to Lily and she shook her head to convey the fact that this was not the time or the place.

"Anyway, I guess we continue that discussion during the next meeting," Avery said.

James saw Snape and Regulus shoot death glares at Avery.

"What do you mean, next meeting?" Professor Slughorn said cheerfully. "I don't think the Slug Club is the right forum for politics."

James had the distinct feeling that Avery had not meant a meeting of the Slug Club. He wondered if the rumours that he had heard were true, that there were secret meetings being organised by pure-blood students supporting pure-blood supremacy. He had first heard those rumours a couple of months before, but he had refused to believe that they were true.

"Although I am happy to hear you youngsters are so enthusiastic and aware of what is happening in the world," Professor Slughorn added, with a nod at the Slytherins.

To James's relief, the conversation steered towards more politically acceptable topics and, after a while, Lily removed her hand from his thigh and they both relaxed in their seats.

* * *

Remus had been studying in the common room for over an hour when he looked up to find Peter next to him.

"Hi, Moony," Peter said, sitting down next to Remus and fidgeting on his armchair.

"Hey," Remus said gently.

He suddenly noticed that Sirius was no longer around. He knew both James and Lily were at the Slug club dinner. The common room was now half empty and the only sounds were the giggles of a group of second year girls.

"I wanted to tell you that it's OK. I mean, if it was up to me - I'd like-"

Peter trailed off, looking down.

"I understand," Remus said. "And, thank you."

Peter looked at him again and smiled.

"They'll get round to it," Peter said. "You know. Eventually."

"Yeah, I guess," Remus said, sighing.

The group of girls had stopped laughing and was staring at them, obviously trying to solve the enigma of what the Marauders had been fighting about lately. Remus stared at them pointedly until they had the decency to look away and pretend they were not listening.

"Well, that's all I wanted to tell you," Peter said quickly. "I've got to go now, I haven't had my dinner yet! Sirius had told me he wanted to go later but he ended up saying he was not hungry. Which was strange."

"Strange indeed," Remus said, frowning. "All right, see you later, Peter."

After Peter was gone, Remus took a few more minutes to finish his essay. He then gathered his things and made his way upwards to the dormitories. The music was so loud that he heard it before he even opened the door. The room was dark and the hard rock music produced blasting sounds that made Remus's heart jump. Judging by the deathly screams the singer was emitting, Remus thought this must be either The Blood Bath or The Beasts, two of the stupidly loud bands Sirius sometimes listened to. As Remus cautiously made his way through the room towards his bed, he passed by Sirius's which was next to his. In the faint light emitted by Sirius's wand, he saw that Sirius was lying on his bed with his head in his pillow, his dark hair covering his face completely.

"Sirius! SIRIUS!""

Sirius's head jerked up and he turned towards Remus and shouted.

"WHO IS IT?"

Sirius quickly reached for this wand and pointed it at Remus's startled face.

"Moony! You scared me!"

"Sirius, turn this bloody thing down, won't you?"

Sirius finally turned off the music. Remus sighed of relief. He did not think he could stand another minute of this. He sat down on his bed, facing Sirius, who was now also sitting. When Remus turned on the lights, he noticed that Sirius's eyes were red and he wondered if his friend had been crying.

"Padfoot?" Remus said softly. "Are you OK?"

Sirius shook his head.

"It's not because of the Map, is it?"

Sirius gave his bark-like laughter, but it sounded like his heart was not in it. Sirius took a piece of parchment from his bedside table and almost threw it at Remus.

"No, it's not. Here, read this."

The handwriting was refined but still somewhat childish.

 _Sirius,_

 _It's not too late. I know it is for Mother and Father, but not for me. If you turn to us now, I promise you will be welcome. Unlike Mother, I believe blood is thicker than water. If you want to join our group, just let me know and it will be done. Think carefully about which side you are on._

 _Regulus_

Remus swallowed and tried to think of something to say to make Sirius feel better. He suddenly wished the singer screaming for murder was still on, just so that it would cover the silence.

"Family spirit's lovely, isn't it?" Sirius said.

Remus placed the parchment back where it had been. Sirius destroyed it at once, with a wave of his wand. Remus looked at Sirius, surprised.

"I don't want to keep anything he gives me. The last thing I need in these times of suspicion is someone thinking I'm on _their_ side."

"Yeah, I get that," Remus said gently. "Well, you know I'd never think that-"

"I know," Sirius interrupted. "I know."

"I'm sorry."

Remus went to sit down next to Sirius and patted his shoulder awkwardly.

"And - I'm sorry about, you know, the Map," Remus said.

"That's fine. I mean, I know there's more important stuff going on."

Sirius tried to smile and Remus grinned back at him, relieved. He was back in favour and all was well. James entered the dormitories at that moment, and both Sirius and Remus turned towards him. James was smiling and looked like he had had a good time. He looked even a little bit drunk.

"It's about time we forgave him, don't you think?" Sirius said.

James seemed to think about it for a while and then he walked towards them and pulled them in a tight embrace.

"I declare the Marauders officially back," James said solemnly.

"Now let go of us please, before our group suffers a tragic loss," Sirius said.

James let go of them and pointed at Sirius.

"You looked like you needed a hug, Padfoot."

Remus nodded at James behind Sirius's back and they laughed at Sirius's half-hearted protests.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was half past eight that rainy evening and Remus and Venus were in Professor McGonagall's brightly lit office, for what was supposed to be their last hour of detention together since the confiscation of the Map. They had also lost thirty points to Gryffindor, and Professor McGonagall had tried to make them admit what the parchment was about, since Filch had caught a glimpse of it before it had turned blank, but neither of them had cracked. Over the previous five hours of detention, Remus and Venus had carried out various tasks, mostly cleaning furniture and artefacts and sorting through paperwork.

They were now sorting out alphabetically, without the use of magic, all the Transfiguration essays handed out throughout the year by all students from first to fifth year. Not for the first time, Remus thought that he definitely wouldn't mind becoming a teacher when he was older. He thought he could be a decent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He imagined he would be good at giving second chances, and at identifying which students needed a little extra help to shine. Too bad nobody would ever allow a werewolf to teach. Remus's musings were interrupted by the sound of the door, which announced that Professor McGonagall was back. To his surprise, she was accompanied by James.

"Oh, fancy seeing you here," James said warmly to Remus and Venus, grinning.

Remus could have sworn he saw Professor McGonagall roll her eyes.

"Now you all behave meanwhile I go and look for Mr Black, I shan't be long. That boy cannot be hiding very far. If there is anything - _anything_ going on when I come back, I will not hesitate to take points off Gryffindor."

"It's going to get a bit crowded in here, Professor."

James was leaning against the wall, looking perfectly at ease. Remus had always admired James's and Sirius's cool and collected stance and their way of handling authority figures. When Professor McGonagall glared at him, Remus usually just wanted to shrink back in his chair until he would disappear.

"These two are almost done, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said shrilly, gesturing towards Remus and Venus as if they were unwanted pets which presence had been forced upon her. "Only twenty minutes to go for them."

As soon as Professor McGonagall left the room, James sat down in Professor McGonagall's chair and sighed dejectedly, running his hand through his hair.

"What have you two done again?" Remus asked, placing his hands on his hips in an involuntary imitation of James's mother.

He had to make an effort on himself not to tell James to get off their professor's chair.

"Oh, you can talk, Moony, you're in detention too! But if you must know, we were hexing a couple of Slytherins that had just insulted Larry Stone and were threatening him. Don't know if you know him, he's a second year Hufflepuff. He's Muggle born. Harmless little chap. Anyway, unfortunately for us, good old Minerva arrived a bit too late, and probably thought we were just attacking them for no reason. She wouldn't believe us when we told her, or maybe she just thought we had reacted too strongly, I'm not sure. In any case, we got a two hour detention. Sirius managed to get away just before we got caught, but those slimy Slytherins told on him."

Within a minute, the conversation had turned to the Slytherins and the increase in verbal and physical attacks towards Muggle-born students, and whether this was linked to the meetings being organised in apparent secret. James suggested that the best way to find out more about those meetings was that one of them should pretend to be interested in them and attend one, and then report back to the others about what had been said.

"I guess I can't be the one going there, as I am 'only' half-blood," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

Remus was actually relieved. He had never been happier about the fact that his mother was a Muggle.

"Sirius is out too," James said. "He couldn't face his brother there without exploding."

"I could do it," Venus said.

"No way! It could be dangerous."

Venus snorted and glared at James with her head held high.

"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I have to stand back and let you have all the fun! Besides, we don't even know if it is dangerous. You need to stop overprotecting me. Also, the only other choice is you, and the whole school knows you are always defending Lily and the other Muggle-borns, it wouldn't be credible."

"She's right, Prongs. Not to mention the fact that you're a terrible actor."

James rolled his eyes as Remus and Venus chuckled. James held up his hands in defeat.

"Alright, alright, I see I'm outnumbered here. But we'll need to think this through carefully. I think we should first meet with Sirius, Peter and Lily and gather all the information we have, which is probably not much. And see how you could get in there and be our eyes and ears, but without exposing yourself. It would probably be useful to -"

James stopped talking abruptly when the door suddenly burst open. Professor McGonagall came in, holding Sirius's robes firmly, as if he was a stray dog and she was afraid he might run away again. She let go of him only after she had closed the door behind them. Sirius was shuffling his feet gloomily, his head bowed.

"Mr Potter, you clean the windows. Mr Black, you go and clean up inside that cupboard at the back of the room. And no magic."

Sirius groaned. From previous detentions, they knew that cupboard was very big and contained all sorts of old, damp books, bottles, dusty cloaks, jars, some of them quite filthy. In fact, they couldn't reconcile this cupboard with Professor McGonagall, whom they suspected to be a clean freak. They had reached the conclusion that she only kept this specific cupboard in that state for students to clean during detentions.

"What's that, Mr Black?"

"Nothing, Professor."

"I won't have you lot talking to each other, or even looking at each other, understood?"

They worked in silence for about five minutes. Remus noticed James kept glancing at Sirius, but Sirius was, for once, complying with the teacher's instructions and keeping silent and concentrated. Professor McGonagall was sitting at her desk marking papers, looking up at them only occasionally. When Professor McGonagall called Remus and Venus and asked them to come over, Remus sighed inwardly as they made their way towards their teacher's desk. With all those detentions lately, Remus had fallen behind on his homework, so he really hoped that was the last one. He also wanted to have a chance to discuss the plans before James completely took control of the whole operation. Over the years, Remus had found a way to express his ideas to have some of them taken into account and accepted by James and Sirius, who had previously been used to being the only ones in charge. Peter usually seemed content with being the listener.

"It seems you are done with your punishment. This is your last chance to tell me what that document is."

They remained silent, and the only sounds were the rain battering against the windows and Sirius dropping a heavy book on the floor and cursing under his breath.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall said, looking disappointed. "It goes without saying that, whatever it is, it is confiscated and will remain here in Hogwarts. But that is fine, isn't it, since it means nothing to you and you do not know what it is. Mr Lupin, I expected better from you as a Prefect. It had been a while you had not got into trouble. I was hoping your friends had stopped leading you astray, but I had not suspected Miss Vance to be one of them."

Venus opened her mouth to speak but seemed to think better of it. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring at the wall behind Professor McGonagall as if she found it particularly fascinating.

"You can go now," Professor McGonagall said, after another tense silence.

"Thank you, Professor."

Remus heard James's and Sirius's stifled sniggers at his words. He glared at them before he and Venus left the room, but neither of them were looking at him. Venus sighed of relief as she closed the door. She had a new spring in her step as they started walking along the corridor.

"We're finally done with this," Venus said happily. "I've never cleaned so much stuff in my life. Although I would have preferred if it hadn't been during detention, I enjoyed spending time with you, actually."

"Me too." Remus smiled. "I remember the time, not so long ago, when the easiest way for me to spend time with my friends was to do something bad, just to get detention with them."

Venus laughed, shaking her head.

"It's always the quiet ones."

* * *

" _BLACK_!" Venus shouted. "Are you crazy? Why did you throw the Bludger at me?"

Venus was flying quickly and furiously towards Sirius. She had just been nearly hit by a Bludger, which had passed above her head. They were barely ten minutes into their Saturday morning practice, and she already had no patience left. Venus had been obsessed with Quidditch for as long as she could remember. As she grew older she had started to realise it had probably had something to do with the fact that her aloof father was a Quidditch champion in his Hogwarts days, and she longed for a way to make him feel proud of her. It was difficult for her to understand that most people were not as dedicated and passionate as she was about the game. Sirius had made the team only earlier in the year, and showed no particular enthusiasm during practices.

"I didn't throw anything at you," Sirius said.

Sirius was a picture of innocence, but his eyes were sparkling dangerously. And Venus had seen him directing the Bludger towards her. Deep down, she knew Sirius had thrown it just close enough that it would scare her, but not close enough to hit her. But that was still not _fair_.

"A Beater is supposed to watch out for the other players, to make sure they're not hit!" Venus continued yelling, pointing at him threateningly. "Not throw the Bludger at them!"

All their teammates were now staring at them, particularly the third Chaser, Broderick MacDougal. Broderick - or rather, Brody, as he insisted to be called - was in their year. In fact, he was the only sixth year Gryffindor boy who was not part of the Marauders group, which had earned him the nickname "the Fifth Wheel". Venus sometimes felt bad for him as he had to share the Marauders' dormitories for many years without being part of their group, although Brody had actually contributed to that since first year by hanging out mostly with his Ravenclaw and Slytherin friends and family members. Brody was smaller than Venus and all of the Marauders except for Peter. He had long dark hair. Venus had always suspecting him of trying (and failing) to imitate Sirius's hairstyle. He had large brown eyes with very short eyelashes, and pale skin which was prone to blushing, especially when Venus was around.

"All right there, Venus?" Brody asked, coming towards them.

Brody was looking at her in concern. He had fancied Venus for years, but she had never seen him as anything other than a friend. He had actually been the first boy she had kissed, figuring she may as well do that with someone she was friendly with. That had been a mistake and it had been quite difficult to shake him off after that. James had even had to give him a stern talk. Fortunately, Brody had been dating Adelaide Fawley, a sixth year Ravenclaw, for the past few months, and that had helped their relationship go back to normal.

"Nobody asked for your help, Broderick," Sirius said somewhat nastily. "Don't worry, I didn't hurt your precious sweetheart."

Brody's face turned purple. He was gripping his broomstick harder than necessary, and threw Sirius a disgusted look.

"Stop it with that," Brody said.

"I don't need your help, Brody, I can defend myself just fine, thank -"

"What's going on?" spoke James's voice from above.

Sirius and Venus both looked up at James and started speaking at the same time.

"Prongs, she's completely mad and paranoid -"

"He threw the Bludger at me! I could have been hurt and-"

"Shut up, both of you," James interrupted.

James looked down at them wearily, frowning. He was looking from Venus to Sirius and Venus could almost see his loyalties being pushed one way and the other. Sirius had always been the only thing that Venus and James didn't agree about - well, that, and who was the best Quidditch team in England. The Potter family had always supported the Caerphilly Catapults, while Venus was a big fan of the Appleby Arrows.

"I don't have time for this. Just - sort it out, I guess."

With that, James flew away, not even looking back at them once. Brody thought it wiser to leave as well. Venus was disappointed by James's unwillingness to pick a side. That was typical of James though, over the years he had often refused to be the referee to their arguments.

"What?" Venus yelled after James. "Aren't you going to do anything? I thought you were the Captain!"

Venus sighed. The only good thing right now was that Quidditch was taking her mind off the plan they had discussed earlier in the week during detention. She had to admit that she was starting to feel preoccupied. They had not yet discussed it with the rest of the group, but were due to do so when the next opportunity presented itself, which would probably be the next day as it would be a quiet Sunday. She turned to Sirius, who was now smiling broadly.

"I swear I didn't throw it at you," Sirius said.

Sirius turned his back to her, leaving Venus to bear a hole through his head with her eyes. Sirius waved and gestured at James, probably using some sort of code only they knew about. Part of her still childishly resented Sirius for having 'stolen' her childhood friend. Before they had gone to Hogwarts, James and she had been close friends since they were about five or six years old. Venus's mother worked in the Ministry and James's mother, almost fifteen years her senior, was her manager and mentor. When Venus's father had left and they had got divorced, Mrs Potter had been extremely supportive and the hardship had strengthened the two women's friendship. Mrs Potter had decided to take a long break from work to enjoy James's childhood years, and she had become the official babysitter for the three Vance sisters. Emmeline was five years older than them and Iris was barely a toddler at that time, so neither of them was really interested in James. Venus and James, being the same age, had grown up together, learning the rules of Quidditch and trying to fly, and playing games for hours with make-believe wands, where they pretended to save the world from evil. Even when she had reached that stage where all boys seemed stupid and disgusting, she had never considered James to be one of them. Until they had gone off to Hogwarts and James had instantly become attached at the hip with the most handsome and yet infuriating boy she had ever met.

"This is not over, Black!" Venus shouted.

Sirius turned back towards her and tossed his flying hair back behind his ear, stroking his chin with his hand as though pondering what would be the next insult he would snarl at her. But then his expression changed and turned into a rapacious smile that she had never seen on his face before.

"You know, you're kind of hot when you're cross," Sirius said.

Neither of them saw the Bludger coming towards them and they had to take a plunge to avoid being knocked off their brooms.

* * *

As soon as the practice was over, Sirius rushed towards the locker rooms, not really wanting to participate to any discussions about tactics, or any kind of discussions, really. For days he had been preoccupied with Regulus's letter, and his head wasn't really in the Quidditch, nor in homework or even in pranks. He actually had trouble finding sleep, and as a result he found himself reacting badly to things he would normally have brushed off easily, or having even more reckless ideas than usual. One of them that day had been targeting the wrong person.

"Black! You'd better apologise to me!"

Sirius stopped walking and looked behind his shoulder at Venus, who was practically running while pointing at him, like an exasperated mother chasing her badly behaved son.

"Yeah, alright," Sirius said gruffly. "I am sorry, happy now?"

"Oh - OK."

Venus looked comically flabbergasted by his apology. She looked like she could not find anything else to say, so Sirius turned his back to her and resumed walking. He could hear her footsteps behind him, hesitant at first but then gaining in confidence. After a while she caught up with him.

"Wait, Black. Are you alright?"

"Sure, everything's fab," Sirius muttered, refusing to meet her eye.

Sirius was staring at his feet, wondering how long it would take for Venus to give up on asking how he was, half hoping she would insist. Venus cleared her throat.

"Is it - is it something to do with your family?"

Sirius closed his eyes for a moment, feeling like all the air had been sucked out from his body. His chest felt heavy and oppressed, like every time he thought or talked about his family.

"How do you know?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"Well, I've noticed that you've seemed down for the past couple of weeks. And I've been talking a lot with Remus during our detentions and I know he's worried about you, even though he won't tell me what's happening. Does it have anything to do with this secret association?"

Those last words sent chills down his spine. He had told James, Remus and Peter about Regulus's letter and what little he knew about those meetings, and James had filled them in on what had happened during the Slug Club dinner. They had agreed that the two events were linked and that the Slytherins were definitely up to something big.

"So you know about this?"

Venus pursed her lips.

"I've received an invitation."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. He had not expected anyone in his immediate entourage (he could not really call Venus a friend) to be contacted. He didn't even know who knew about this new club, or whatever they were calling themselves. At least, he felt a bit less bad about the letter now.

"Seriously?"

"Apparently, they thought they'd try and see if I wanted to join, seeing that I'm from a pureblood family. Even though they know my parents have always been against any kind of discrimination. I can't believe it."

"Well, my brother is part of it," Sirius said, wincing. "Probably has an important role, too. Not that I'd know. I haven't spoken with him for over a year."

Sirius refused to look at her, but he heard her sharp intake of breath. There was a silence, and Sirius supposed she was struggling to find the words to make him feel better. Even James had struggled when he had told him, and James knew him better than anyone.

"That sucks. It must be driving you crazy, I can't imagine how I'd feel like. I don't know what to say. I'm not - I'm not really good at comforting people."

He couldn't remember the last time he had heard her speak to him like this, devoid of any sarcasm or spite, in a sincerely emphatic tone. He ran a hand though his hair and sighed.

"I'm sorry about the Bludger. Really. I'm pissed off because of all this and my brother, but I shouldn't take it out on you. Or even on Brody. Even though, you know, old habits die hard."

"I know what you mean," Venus said, looking on the verge of laughing.

The next second, James appeared from behind them and they were pulled in one of James's famous bear hugs. James had put one arm around each of them.

"I see you seem to have made amends," James said. "That's good. I can't have you fighting on the pitch, you know. You're my most trusted players. If you two need to, er, blow off some steam before playing, I'd be happy to make sure the dormitory's free for you, no questions asked."

" _James!_ " Venus protested, punching James playfully. "You're disgusting."

James sniggered. It was difficult for Venus's olive-coloured skin to turn red, but for a moment it was verging on pink.

"We're just seventeen-year-old blokes," James said.

"We?Don't drag me into this," Sirius said, smiling.

Venus shook her head, but Sirius had the distinct impression she was hiding a smile. She always seemed to act differently when James was around. She called him "JP" and James seemed to think it was the coolest thing in the world. She had played wing woman for him countless times, and had stood by him the few times he had been a jerk to girls. She was the one who had first told James about periods, and Sirius still remembered the evening at the beginning of their third year when James had shared the information with them, the four boys gasping and making disgusted faces.

Sirius had always been envious of James and Venus's close friendship, having never managed to form such a bond with a member of the opposite sex. He wondered what it would be like to have a close female friend, even though just a couple of years ago he would have found the idea ludicrous.

"If this is what's on the market, I don't see why I'd need to have a boyfriend," Venus said, scoffing and pretending to be offended.

"Oh, come on," James said, pushing his glasses back on his nose. "You could do a lot worse than us. Brains, muscles, beautiful hair - Sirius at least, great sense of humour, what's not to like?"

Venus grinned back at James. Sirius scowled at his friend, wondering when James had started selling Sirius's qualities, as if he needed the promotion. Fortunately, Venus pointedly avoided the fact that the quip referred to both James and Sirius.

"You're a bit too skinny for my taste, sweetie. And you seem to forget that I once saw you pull out a bogey from your nose and eat it. After that, it's kind of hard to look at you as boyfriend material!"

Sirius watched with a smile as Venus ran towards the locker rooms. James followed her and eventually reached her, caught her by the legs and held her up, pretending to try and throw her across the room. Sirius could see that James was struggling under Venus's weight. James was, as Venus had put it, quite thin and wasn't as strong as he wanted other people (especially girls) to believe.

"Put - me - _down_!" Venus exclaimed, in between fits of laughter.

"I will, darling, I just wanted to remind you that you may have information on me, but I know everything about you as well!"

Venus eventually struggled free and tapped her finger on James's chest.

"You see, that's where you're wrong, JP. That's the difference between boys and girls, there's more going on in here than you could even imagine," Venus said, smirking and pointing at her head. "Whereas I don't think in the past ten years I've seen you experience more than three or four basic emotions."

James stuck out his tongue at her as she blew him a kiss and disappeared behind the door of the stall where she, as the only girl in Gryffindor team that year, always changed.

"Between her and Lily, I wonder how I haven't lost my sanity," James said to Sirius, shaking his head, though his hazel eyes were twinkling with mirth.

"I can still hear you, you know! And for the record, you never had your sanity in the first place!"

Sirius chuckled as James winked at him.

* * *

Lily had just answered the Charms professor's question when she was nudged by Alistair Bones, from Ravenclaw, who was sitting behind her during Charms class. Alistair scowled at her as he passed her two pieces of parchment. Her name was written on one and Anna Ripperton's name was on the other one. Lilly passed the second one to Anna who was sitting next to her. Lily opened the note.

 _People like you should not be allowed here._

A shiver ran down Lily's spine. Her first reaction was to look around her and behind her, but all students, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw alike, seemed to be either concentrated on the class or staring off into space. No one was looking at her and Anna. Alistair, who was a Prefect like Lily, frowned at her. He looked like he had no idea what had been written on the note. He probably thought it was some sort of flirty correspondence. She also glanced at Brody, who was sitting next to Alistair, as they were close friends. Brody held her gaze, and mouthed "What?". Lily turned to Anna and her heart sank as she saw her friend had tears in her eyes. Anna passed her the second note without a word.

 _You should go back and live with the Muggles where you belong. There is no point for you to try and learn magic. Leave that to those with proper powers._

Lily closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming. The last thing she needed was for the teacher to see their reactions and interrupt the class. She wondered who could have sent the notes, but even examining each person one by one, she couldn't find anyone that she thought would have sent such spiteful notes. She figured it couldn't be anyone in Gryffindor at least but then, it was particularly difficult for her to put herself in the shoes of a pureblood wizard or witch. She couldn't see past her prejudice. The week before, her friends had told her about the pureblood meetings and the fact that Venus would try and attend one of those meetings, as she had bene invited. Lily, as a Muggle-born witch, had of course never heard about these meetings. She figured the people attending them were probably extra careful not to mention it around Muggle-born people.

Gripping the note in her clenched fist, Lily ran through the list of her friends to see who she could talk with. After a while, she reached the conclusion that Remus was probably the one person most likely to understand. The trouble was that it was usually difficult to catch him on his own, and he was currently in the hospital wing. She would go there after classes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

That evening after classes, Anna still seemed shaken by the notes, but neither Lily nor Anna mentioned it. Venus asked them what was wrong. But Lily didn't want to talk about it with her yet, so she went through dinner pretending nothing had happened and as soon as her plate was cleared, she announced that she had a headache and was going to bed. Instead, Lily made her way to the hospital wing. She went straight the only bed that was occupied, thankful that Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to be there. Remus was lying down with his face turned towards the wall.

"Good evening, Remus," Lily said softly, sitting down on the chair next to the bed.

Remus turned to her slowly, as if this simple action caused him pain. He had a fresh scar on his neck and looked like he had not had any sleep.

"Lily," Remus said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were feeling. And I also wanted to talk with you, if that's alright?"

Remus gave a small smile and nodded, which made Lily feel better. She was starting to think that she should maybe just leave him alone to rest, but now he actually looked like he was grateful for her presence.

"How did you know I was here?"

"James told me you had the flu and were resting," Lily said. "But - I'm pretty sure you don't have the flu."

Remus blinked, and Lily felt like he was trying very hard to not show his feelings. He averted his eyes and remained silent.

"You don't, do you, Remus?" Lily prompted.

Almost a minute passed by before Remus finally looked at her again and cleared his throat. He recoiled from her as though he wanted to disappear in the corner of the room. He looked terrified.

"No, I don't."

"It's okay. I guessed a while ago. And last night was full moon. But you know what? We don't have to talk about it. I mean, if you don't want to. I just want you to know that I'm here for you, if you do."

Lily had spoken quickly and she took a deep breath as Remus stared at her, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"You know, I'm even surprised you didn't find out before. But are you sure you're okay with this? You're not - scared of me?"

Lily smiled and squeezed his cold hand, trying to appear more brave than she felt.

"I'd never be scared of you, Remus. As far as I'm concerned, nothing's changed. Well, apart from - well, I'd like to help, if I can. But as I said, we don't have to talk about it now if you don't feel like it, you must be tired."

Remus sighed and looked up at the ceiling, his eyes glistening with tears.

"Thank you," Remus whispered. "Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me. You're such a precious friend, Lily. In fact, you're too good for all of us."

Remus smiled at her and Lily let James's ghost pass. She told Remus about the spiteful notes she and Anna had received during class, and her theories about who could have sent them.

"I'm sorry if it seems like I'm unloading my burden onto you, but I just thought that you'd understand. You know what it feels like to be cast aside and discriminated against. You know that better than me, I'm sure."

Remus smiled sadly and nodded.

"I'm just scared," Lily said. "This doesn't feel like the Hogwarts we first arrived to years ago, does it? If it was only the bullies here, I could stand it, but I'm scared for my family out there. What if -"

"I understand you're scared, of course I do. As for what's happening here, we'll do everything we can to stop this, I promise. Hopefully Venus will discover something useful when she goes to that meeting. And about what's happening outside - sadly, we can't control it. I know it's easier said than done, but let's try not to worry too much and see what we can do about it. We're all in this together, Lily. Whether or not we're purebloods. And I want you to know you can always talk to me."

Lily felt a tear roll down her cheeks and she gave Remus an awkward hug, as he was lying down and was not strong enough to lean forward. For a long time, Lily continued talking, and noticed she was feeling considerably better. She stopped when she saw Remus was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I'll leave you to sleep. Please get some rest and be on feet soon, because your friends need their voice of reason back."

Lily winked at Remus as she stood up and he rolled his eyes.

"Thank you for thinking I have the slightest bit of influence on them."

* * *

When Lily arrived back in the common room, it was already ten o'clock. The common room was empty except for a group of fourth years quietly conversing by the fire, and James and Venus standing in a corner of the room. Lily froze in her tracks as she realised that they were hugging. James was only slightly taller than Venus and Lily could see his face and his closed eyes as he rested his chin gently on Venus's shoulder. Even though Lily knew how close they were, she couldn't recall ever seeing them hugging outside of the Quidditch pitch. A dozen questions popped up in her mind at once, and she felt her mouth go dry as she watched James stroke Venus's back and whisper in her ear. Lily barely had the time to register the fact that she seemed to feel jealous, which hit her like an unexpected stomach pain, before James noticed her.

"Is everything fine?" Lily asked, trying to keep her voice in control.

"Not really," James said, gently pulling away from Venus.

Lily frowned. He didn't sound like his usual self, and she felt another pang in her stomach, although for a very different reason, when Venus finally turned to her and she saw the crestfallen look on the dark-haired girl's face.

"It's my father," Venus said, turning towards the window. "He's been attacked. I've just received an owl."

Lily knew that Venus's father worked for the Ministry of Magic and that after many years of service in the Foreign Affairs and Sports Department, he was now working for the Department of Defence on important missions abroad. Lily guessed that some of them were probably very dangerous, but Venus usually didn't like talking about her father, so Lily didn't ask for too many details.

"I don't know the details obviously, but I know he was on a mission undercover and apparently something went wrong. I guess one of Voldemort's followers attacked him - I don't know."

"Is he going to be okay?" Lily asked.

Her voice felt very dry. She went to sit on the couch where Venus had just sat down. James was still standing up, staring at them, an unusual look of shock and fear on his face.

"He's in a hospital since this morning. They think he is going to make it, but it was close, and apparently he's under a lot of pain; although in the letter they said he's going to be okay."

Lily gave Venus a quick hug. She couldn't remember the last time she had hugged her. She knew Venus wasn't the touchy-feely type and did not usually seek such marks of affection. However, this time she felt Venus relax in her embrace.

"I'll stay with you," Lily said. "If you want."

"Thanks, Lily," Venus said.

They both turned to James, who was still hovering next to them, uncertain whether to stay or to go.

"You can go, JP. Don't worry about me, really, and - thank you."

James shook his head and leaned in to squeeze Venus's shoulder in a gesture more reminiscent of one he would give to Sirius, Remus or Peter. He then smiled kindly at Lily.

"I'm sure you'll take good care of her."

"I will," Lily said.

James said goodnight and the girls remained silent as he disappeared from sight going up the stairs.

* * *

On the next morning, Venus left her dormitories early, as the rest of the girls were still getting ready. She was carrying a large leather bag and was not wearing her school uniform, but a red long sleeved top and a pair of black jeans instead. She had been told it would be safer to dress Muggle style, in case there were any Muggles around the hospital. Contrary to her habits, she did not bother smoothing her hair with a spell, and she knew she had dark circles around her eyes from the lack of sleep, but today, she did not care how she looked. As she arrived in the common room, she immediately spotted James and Sirius waiting in a corner. They exchanged quiet greetings.

"I'm sorry to hear about your father," Sirius muttered, looking at his feet.

"Yeah – thanks, Black."

Sirius frowned as he finally looked at her.

"Can I ask you something? Can you stop calling me Black?"

Sirius had spoken quickly, as if he had wanted to say that for a really long time. He sighed and looked down at his feet again, his hair falling over his eyes.

"It's just – you know it's not a name I am proud of, especially these days, and every time someone calls me that, it's like an insult to me."

Venus's eyes widened. She had probably been selfish, because it had never even occurred to her that Sirius could be upset by her calling him Black. But now that he said it, it made sense completely, and she felt a pang of guilt as she realised she had never really stopped to consider Sirius's feelings.

"Of course," Venus said. "I'll do my best. Sirius."

The name didn't roll easily off her tongue. Venus forced a smile. She then looked at James and saw that he was now grinning. She rolled her eyes.

"What?"

"You two getting along is near the top of my wish list, that's all," James said. "Number one being Lily, of course, and number two being Snivellus moving away to the other side of the world and never coming back."

Remus and Peter joined them and Remus gave Venus the sweetest smile she had seen in a while. Peter looked at her with the mixture of awe and nervousness he usually displayed when she was around.

"You'd be bored if he did," Sirius said, shrugging. "Where _is_ Lily, by the way? Don't tell me she is already studying, in the library."

In Sirius Black's mouth, library sounded like a swear word. But Lily came walking down the stairs a minute later, and they all stood in a small circle, speaking in hushed tones as other people rushed off to breakfast.

"Actually, I won't be going to class today," Venus said. "I'm going to Belfast, that's where my father was on a mission when he – when it happened. Hagrid's taking me there. But I should be back by Friday, I think. I know was supposed to go to the meeting this Saturday."

"I don't think you should go," James said, and he stared at Venus intensely, shaking his head. "You have enough on your plate right now as it is."

"I agree with James," Lily said.

It was probably the first time that Lily announced that she agreed with James on anything. The rest of the group stared at her in shock and Lily laughed nervously. There was a silence, and then Peter cleared his throat.

"I could go," Peter said. "To the meeting."

Venus couldn't hide the look of disbelief on her face, but as she looked around, she noticed that the others didn't look so surprised, especially Remus and James. Maybe she was just underestimating Peter. She had even, at times, wondered why he had been sorted into Gryffindor. He looked like a boy who got easily scared and liked hiding behind his friends. But after all, she had never really taken the time to get to know him.

"You? Really?"

"It could work," Remus said thoughtfully.

"Yes, I mean, I'm a pureblood, after all," Peter said. "And – it's not _that_ dangerous, is it? I mean, they're probably just going to talk, that's all. I can just pretend to agree with them."

There was a discussion for about five minutes, until they all agreed that it made sense for Peter to go. Venus couldn't help but wonder if he was really the safest choice. On the other hand, she had other priorities at the moment, and she had to admit she was quite relieved she didn't have this on her plate anymore.

"Alright, I have to go now," Venus said. "And you all have to go down to breakfast. I'll see you in a couple of days."

Lily and James both went towards her at the same time to give her a hug. They stopped in their tracks and looked at each other awkwardly. But Venus was already walking towards the portrait hole.

"Take care!" James called after her. "And send my love to your mum if she's there."

Venus didn't turn, so that they wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. She didn't like talking about her parents' dysfunctional relationship. James knew some of it, of course, being so close to her family, but she had never really discussed her feelings about it with him. She got on very well with her mother, but she had trouble understanding how she could refuse to go and see the father of her children in his time of need, no matter what he had done to her in the past.

"She's not. She doesn't want to see him. I'm going with Iris though, and Emmeline and our aunt and uncle are already there."

She left before they would ask any more questions. She hurried across the corridors, hoping her younger sister would already be with McGonagall as instructed. As she went down a staircase she passed by Brody, who seemed to be on his way back from the Great Hall. They exchanged greetings and Venus tried hard to look as if nothing had happened, as she did not want to talk again about the attack.

"Have you seen James today?" Brody asked.

Venus was surprised, as she had been expecting a question about her Muggle clothes, which Brody was looking at wonderingly.

"Why are you asking?"

"I heard something about him at breakfast," Brody shrugged. "I mean, it's probably just a rumour."

Venus frowned and asked him what he had heard. Brody looked around to check no one was around and leaned in towards her, close enough so that she could smell his familiar scent, which reminded her vaguely of freshly cut grass and Quidditch.

"I guess you've heard of those pureblood people meetings?" Brody asked, and Venus nodded curtly. "Well, I heard James is the one organising them."

"James?" Venus snorted. "Are you kidding me? You don't believe that for a second, right?"

Brody shrugged again. He looked down at the bag Venus was carrying, frowning slightly.

"I don't know, I mean, he is a pureblood, from a very respected family, and he's popular, people listen to him round here. I've heard this from several people actually, including some people who said they had been to those meetings."

Brody sounded a bit out of breath. His cheeks turned pink as Venus scowled at him.

"That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard," Venus said, clenching her fists. "Don't you know James is always first in line to defend Muggle-borns?"

Brody held up his hands in defence and started walking away from her.

"It's just what I heard," Brody said as he went up the staircase. "Wanted to let you know. Got to go to class. Aren't you coming?"

"I'll see you later," Venus said, and continued her journey down the stairs before he could ask anything else.

* * *

That night, as Venus was miles away in a gloomy wizarding hospital in Belfast, Remus, Peter and Sirius were in their dormitories, playing Exploding Snap. James was still in the common room, pretending to finish his Transfiguration homework with Lily and Anna. They knew it was only an excuse to spend some time with Lily.

"Won again!" Sirius exclaimed, raising his wand in the air.

"Well done!" Peter said. "You're too good."

Remus rolled his eyes as Sirius smiled brightly, looking like he had just won the Quidditch World Cup.

"Stop it, Pete, he doesn't need the encouragement."

"That's just you being a bad loser, Moony," Sirius said. "It's not your time of the month though, that was last week, wasn't it?"

Remus gently pushed Sirius, who fell back on his bed, laughing.

"Stop calling it that! I'm not a girl!"

"But that's why it's so funny," Sirius said, wiping his eyes. "Isn't it, Wormtail?"

Peter looked from Remus to Sirius, not knowing who to side with. He shrugged and nodded non-committally. Sirius raised his eyebrows and suddenly stared at Peter earnestly.

"You're going to need to toughen up if you're going to be among those pureblood freaks," Sirius said.

"Although, you still haven't received an invitation, have you?" Remus asked.

"No," Peter said quietly.

Peter didn't want to admit it to his friends, but he actually resented the fact that he had not received an invitation. It was like everyone at school thought that he was not worthy of any attention.

"You're going to need to ask for one, then," Sirius said briskly.

They debated for a while about who was likely to attend those meetings and who Peter could ask without it looking too suspicious. They settled on Rufus Avery, a fourth year Ravenclaw, whose older brother Magnus was in Slytherin and a well-known supporter of Voldemort. At one point, after ten o'clock, the door opened and they heard footsteps. They stopped speaking abruptly, in case it was Brody coming in. But it was James, softly whistling to himself and swaggering accross the room.

"Missed me?" James asked brightly.

Sirius seemed to have decided that they had talked about enough serious things for the night. He smiled broadly at James.

"Not really," Sirius said.

"I feel very much welcome," James said sarcastically.

James threw his pillow at Sirius.

"Are you hereby declaring the war, Mr Potter?" Sirius announced solemnly.

"I believe I am, Mr Black," James replied on the same tone.

James hardly had the time to nod his head earnestly before his own pillow came smashing into his face. A Marauders' Pillow War had begun. Peter soon joined in, but Remus only did when James attacked him, rendering his neutrality no longer possible.

"Come on, Switzerland," James quipped, smirking at Remus. "You've got to retaliate."

"I'll make you regret this, Potter," Remus said.

They all laughed as Remus's pillow landed on Brody's neatly done bed, James having dodged it.

"Moony, you know I have unbeatable reflexes."

"Where _is_ he, anyway?" Sirius said, gesturing towards Brody's bed. "Was he in the common room?"

"Nope," James shrugged. "Not that I was looking around, mind you. Lily looked exceptionnally pretty tonight."

James sighed, hugging his pillow with a longing smile. Sirius lay down on his bed and snorted.

"If I have to hear one more word about Evans -"

"Oh, cut him some slack, Padfoot," Remus said. "You have to admit it's kind of sweet."

Sirius pretended to vomit and James hit him on the head with his pillow.

"Actually, you two seem to be getting along a bit better," Remus said, smiling. "I mean, Lily is even nice to you sometimes now."

"I know!" James said. "It's amazing. I think, a bit more time and she will be the one asking me out."

Sirius snorted again, rolling his eyes.

"Woohoo!"

"Don't make me hit you again, Padfoot," James said. "Your hair is already messy enough as it is."

"Look who's talking," Sirius said, sniggering.

The door opened again and Brody slipped into the room.

"Where have you been, Broderick?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"With Adelaide," Brody said defiantly. "Didn't know you were keeping tabs on me. I'm honoured."

Brody passed them by to go to his bed, which was the one closest to the window. Sirius looked like he wanted to argue, but Peter hoped he wouldn't. He actually liked Brody and sometimes felt bad for him that maybe he felt left out. Peter knew the feeling very well.

"It's alright, mate," James said, nodding at Brody.

At James's words, Sirius narrowed his eyes and rolled over, turning towards the door. Not for the first time, Peter marvelled at James's capacity to diffuse any situation.

* * *

The rest of the week passed by in a blur for Peter. He almost regretted having volunteered, as every time he saw a Slytherin he felt a pang of fear in his stomach. On the other hand, he was very happy with the fact that James, Remus and Sirius seemed proud of him. It was the first time they behaved like this with him, as far as he could remember. It was good to feel useful and valued. This was what Peter was repeating to himself as he made his way towards the empty classroom where Rufus Avery had told him the meeting would take place. As he reached the door, someone bumped into him.

"Excuse me," Alistair Bones said importantly, clutching at his Prefect badge as he walked past Peter.

Peter looked around as he entered the room, wishing he could be invisible. He hung around the back of the room, figuring he had better not draw attention to himself. Around twenty people were already sitting on wooden chairs, most of them chatting animatedly. A couple of people entered after Peter and pushed him out of the way. In the faint candlelight, Peter recognised Persephone Macmillan from Ravenclaw, who was sitting next to her best friend Adelaide Fawley. Adelaide was Brody's girlfriend, and was usually civil to Peter, sometimes even nice to him. Peter's eyes widened and he wondered if Brody knew that his girlfriend was there. He decided it may be safer to sit next to Persephone rather than near Slytherin students, so he took the seat beside her, ignoring her haughty stare. A very tall, broad boy with puffy cheeks stood up and faced everyone, calling for silence. It was Bacchus Bulstrode, a seventh year Slytherin who had bullied Peter on a number of occasions over the years.

"In the absence of the usual Chairman, I'd like to lead the discussions today," Bulstrode said. "I thought we could start with the latest from our respected Horatio Greengrass. Who listened to his show this Tuesday?"

A few people raised their hands and Selena Flint, a slender, blonde sixth year from Slytherin, started speaking, recounting Horace Greengrass's words. Peter understood that it seemed to be some kind of radio show and most people around him seemed to listen to it on a regular basis. Peter tried looking around the room discreetly. He had to refrain a gasp when he recognized Tadeas Selwyn, a fourth year from Gryffindor, next to two other young Gryffindor boys whose names Peter didn't remember. Peter wasn't very good at remembering names and faces. He had not thought there would be anyone from Gryffindor in the room.

"Of course, not all of you are lucky enough to be part of the Sacred Twenty-eight families," Bulstrode said smugly. "But that's alright, what matters is that you do your best to preserve the pure blood of your family. And for that, we need to take control and these Muggle born people must not have the same rights as us. If we don't do anything, they will take over and in the end there won't be any real, pureblood wizards left."

There was a murmur of assent. Peter knew he couldn't resist peer pressure and found himself nodding in spite of himself when Persephone Macmillan stared at him defiantly behind her dark rimmed glasses.

"Those Muggle born people are stealing some of our jobs. All the best jobs should be reserved for the best wizards, the pureblood wizards. I mean, these people actually lived years amongst Muggles, believing they were Muggles. So they are practically Muggles. We need to take back what is rightfully ours; our world."

"Hear, hear," said a few of the Slytherins sitting in the front.

Peter could see that Snape was right in the middle of them, but he didn't think Snape had been one of the people that had spoken. He couldn't be sure, as he could see only their backs. One of the Slytherins turned to whisper something to the person behind him, and Peter flinched as he recognised him. It was Regulus Black. Regulus had the Blacks' good looks just like Sirius, but it was as though his were not complete. He was thin, pale and fragile, almost feminine in his features. He looked like an unfinished portrait of Sirius. It was as if the artist had forgotten to make the shoulders broader, the eyes livelier or the jaw firmer.

"Next time we will discuss what is being done for ensuring the teachers who educate us here are proper wizards. In the meantime, keep yourselves informed and don't be afraid of speaking up. _Fortuna audaces iuvat_."

Peter leaned forward so that Regulus wouldn't see him. He felt scared but also strangely fascinated by the fervent murmurs and sense of bonding of the people around him.

" _Fortuna audaces iuvat_ ," whispered the whole room as one.

People started standing up and Peter leapt to his feet, wanting to get away as fast as possible. Unfortunately, a small queue had formed near the door as some people were chatting. By the time Peter was able to leave the room, Snape had caught up with him and pushed him towards the corner of the small dark corridor, while people made their way out without giving them a second glance.

"Who let you in there, Pettigrew?" Snape asked, practically spitting with rage.

Snape gripped Peter's arm, his dark eyes making Peter's insides turn to ice.

"I will find out," Snape whispered, as he gripped even tighter. "And they will pay for their mistake. Never come back again, or you and your little friends will sorely regret it."

Peter gathered all the courage he could find, thinking of how his friends would stand up to Snape. He imagined he was James, and he pulled back his shoulders and held his head high.

"Why were you there anyway?" Peter said. "You're not even a pureblood!"

Peter's voice had sounded more scared than he would have liked, and nothing like James's, but the words seemed to hurt Snape all the same.

"You don't know what you are talking about," Snape snarled. "Go away, you little vermin. And don't you dare speaking one word about what happened tonight."

Snape turned away in a swirl of black robes and disappeared behind a group of tall, large Slytherins. Only then did Peter realise he had been holding his breath. He made his way towards the Gryffindor common room, his heart pounding, wondering how he could give information to his friends without suffering the consequences from Snape and his gang of scary Slytherins. He felt caught between a rock and a hard place.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Peter didn't have the guts to spill the beans to his friends. He didn't manage to tell them that at the Puritas meeting, there had not only been Slytherins, but several students from Ravenclaw including people that they were friendly with, and even a couple of students from Gryffindor. He knew that James and Sirius, particularly, seemed to have black-and-white ideas about good and evil, and no matter what they said, they were prejudiced too, although their prejudice was directed to the Slytherins. So Peter told them that he had seen Snape there, as he knew James and Sirius had automatically assumed Snape was attending those meetings, gave a few other Slytherins' names, and also admitted he had seen Regulus. But he did not mention anyone else, pretending that he had not recognised the other people. The trouble with Peter's plan was that James and Sirius had become obsessed with finding out who was part of Puritas, and whenever they passed by Slytherin people, they always asked him whether he had seen those people or not. Sometimes, they didn't ask very discreetly, and Peter's fear grew every time he saw someone from Slytherin, Snape's threat echoing in his ears.

Peter, more than ever, made sure he was flanked with James and Sirius at all times, and had taken again to attending their Quidditch practices, something he had not done in the past couple of years. Unfortunately, when the Gryffindor team and Peter arrived on the Quidditch pitch for their scheduled practice that evening, they saw that the Slytherin team was already there. Peter shuddered in spite of the soft setting sun. A dark-haired boy emerged from the sneering group of Slytherins, and Peter was surprised to recognize Regulus, who, as far as Peter knew, was not part of that team.

"I'm the new Seeker," Regulus said proudly, "and since it was unexpected, Professor Slughorn went to McGonagall and she agreed to leave the pitch to us."

Peter looked down at his feet apprehensively. Although today was a nice, albeit very windy, sunny day, there had been a lot of rain during the previous week, and the Quidditch pitch was extremely muddy. Peter's shoes were already covered in mud.

"And when are _we_ going to train?" James asked.

The Slytherins snickered. Peter moved behind Sirius and the other Beater, hoping their tall frames would hide him fully from view. Sirius was purposely avoiding his brother's eyes.

"Who cares about that?" said the Slytherins' Captain, Lucinda Talkalot.

And then, everything happened very quickly. James threw some mud at Luncinda. She retaliated, and soon everyone was fighting with mud and shouting insults at each other. Peter had been unintentionally dragged into the fight, and found himself covered in mud from head to toe. Venus was trying to hit Regulus's head with her broomstick. Sirius shouted an insult, and a tall, broad Slytherin boy ran towards Peter, whom he thought had been the one to insult him.

"It wasn't me!" Peter shrieked. "It was -"

But the Slytherin boy didn't listen to Peter, and kicked his crotch. Peter howled in pain.

"Don't show your face at our meetings again," hissed the boy into Peter's ear, low enough so that only Peter would hear.

"Who said _that_ was allowed?" James roared.

Within seconds James was kneeling by Peter's side, his face red. The fight immediately stopped.

"Are you okay, Pete?" James asked, looking at Peter in concern.

Peter was still squeaking in pain, though he was actually rather grateful for the attention.

"I'll be fine," Peter managed to mutter.

James scowled at the Slytherins. "You'll hear about that."

Shaking his head, James turned away and headed towards the stands. His fellow Gryffindors, all covered in mud and with their heads down, followed him.

"That was a low blow," said Stephen Crossley, the Gryffindor Keeper.

"You sure you're alright, Peter?" Venus asked.

Peter nodded at Venus, who was looking at him in concern. Venus saw that Sirius had walked away from the rest of the team and stood staring into the distance at the Slytherin team. She made her way towards him, the wind blowing in her hair and filling her lungs, her heart rate struggling to get back to normal after the altercation with the Slytherins.

"Sirius, are you alright?"

Sirius kept his gaze fixed on the pitch, and she wasn't sure if he had heard her. Ever since her father had been attacked, Venus had been more preoccupied than usual, and just didn't see the point in arguments. Sirius, in return, had been civil, and sometimes even nice, towards her. He had looked genuinely relieved and pleased when she had announced that her father was recovering and there would be no lasting consequences for his health.

"I don't know if I can play against him," Sirius said. "I don't know if I'll trust myself with the Bludger."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I think you're all bark and no bite."

Venus smiled at Sirius, to show him she was only kidding in an attempt to lighten up the mood. To her surprise, Sirius laughed.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Sirius said, smirking. "Nice job trying to kick my brother's ass with your broomstick, by the way."

Venus took one more step towards him. She was so close now that her long hair flying in the wind was tickling Sirius's scarlet Quidditch robes. She noticed that there was a bit of mud on Sirius's right cheek, and she reached out and gently rubbed it off. Sirius initially recoiled slightly, but then relaxed and looked at her hand as she retrieved it haltingly.

"They'll pay for getting this handsome face dirty," Venus said. "You'll see."

A small smile suddenly lit up Sirius's face. He put his arm around Venus's shoulder and spun her around so that she was facing the rest of the team.

"Come on, teammate, let's see what our dear Captain has to say," Sirius said in her ear.

He let go of her shoulder and they went to sit down next to Brody. There was a tense silence in the small group, which was sitting in a circle around James. Mark Riley, the team's other Beater, sat closest to James. His jaw was clenched and he was hitting his hand with his bat compulsively. The Slytherins were currently in the lead for the Quidditch Cup, and the only way the Gryffindors could win it, was if Slytherin lost their last match, which was five days away. On top of that, the rumours going around about Puritas were upsetting a lot of people in Gryffindor, increasing their dislike for Slytherins.

"I'll go and see McGonagall first thing," James said. "You can all go clean up and change. They won't get away with it this time, believe me."

The boys in the team all stood up, muttering and complaining, and started heading towards the changing rooms. Venus waited for James, who was still sitting and appeared to be concentrating on taking deep breaths in and out. Peter was hovering next to him, fidgeting with his robes.

"I can come with you to see McGonagall," Venus said. "Better two witnesses than one."

James nodded and the three of them headed towards Professor McGonagall's office. James recounted the incident in a heated voice. Professor McGonagall looked at them, taking in their muddy robes and tense faces.

"And it's not even fair, Professor!" James said, after he had finished telling her about the fight. "I mean, I'm sure you didn't agree to giving them the pitch tonight without letting me know first, right?"

Professor McGonagall pressed her lips together in a thin line.

"I'm sorry, Potter," Professor McGonagall said, in a contrite tone. "I owed Professor Slughorn a favour, and when he came to my office today to ask this favour, saying their team had an unexpected new member that needed to train before their game, I couldn't really say no. I wanted to inform you, but I couldn't find you in the common room."

James shook his head in disbelief.

"But, Professor, the Cup -"

"I _know_ , Potter, I know," Professor McGonagall said. "You will have the pitch tomorrow, I promise you."

"At least, please tell me some of them will get detention?" James said.

Professor McGonagall sighed and glanced at Peter, who looked like he wanted to disappear.

"I will discuss this with Professor Slughorn and we will interrogate everyone involved, and then take appropriate action."

"Professor," Venus suddenly blurted out, "I'd keep a close eye on those Slytherins if I were you. We heard some of them are meeting in secret and plotting against Muggle-borns and discussing dangerous ideas about pureblood supremacy."

Venus saw that Peter was looking at her with a horrified look on his face. Professor McGonagall took a long, hard look at her. It took all of Venus's courage to hold her gaze. There was a long silence, and then Professor McGonagall's expression softened and there was a kind of understanding in her eyes.

"Hogwarts is a place where right to free speech is always respected," Professor McGonagall finally said. "As long as they are not doing anything against the rules, I cannot do anything about it, Miss Vance."

"Well, _thank you_ , Professor," James said, sounding the opposite of grateful.

James was still angry as the three of them made their way to the common room. They found Sirius, who had changed into clean robes, recounting the incident to Remus. James shrugged when Sirius asked him what McGonagall had said.

"Those bloody Slytherins are driving me crazy," James said. "If one more person asks me if I created that stupid Puritas group, I swear, I will -"

"Keep your voice down, Prongs," Remus said gently.

James took a deep breath, and then rounded on Peter, who looked equally terrified to be the subject of James's furious stare than he had been of McGonagall's.

"So you still think these people are harmless and are all talk and no action? Well, we'll see, won't we? I still think you could have found out more, when you were there."

Venus looked at Peter with pity. She still wasn't sure about him, but she knew that James trusted him fully, and that had to be enough for her. She also had not forgotten that Peter had volunteered to go in her place, and she could see that James was just venting his anger to the wrong person.

"James, I - I don't -" Peter squeaked.

"Cut him some slack, James," Venus said, placing an appeasing hand on James's arm. "I'm sure he did the best he could, in the circumstances. Look, we're all tired and pissed off, let's turn it down a notch."

Remus gave her a small smile, looking relieved that he didn't have to be the one standing up to James.

"She's right, Prongs," Sirius said.

James muttered something under his breath and went up to his dormitory to change without another word.

* * *

The following week did nothing to improve the Gryffindor team's foul mood, as Slytherin won their last match with a very large victory, meaning it was mathematically very unlikely for Gryffindor to win the Cup, even if they won their last match, against Ravenclaw. Nevertheless, James put on a brave face and, on the last Saturday of May, gave his teammates his motivation speech before the game, although it was much shorter than it usually was.

"Gentlemen, and lady," James said, bowing to Venus, who gave a nervous smile. "I would like to ask you something today, and I know it's hard, because even I'm having trouble doing it. But we need to just forget about the Cup today, we need to forget about the Slytherins."

There was a collective shudder of dislike.

"Just concentrate on _today_ 's game. We need to give it our best, all of us, we'll show them Gryffindors don't admit defeat."

The team clapped and Sirius cheered louder than the others. For some reason, Sirius felt somehow responsible for the fact that Slytherin was set to win the Cup, as Regulus had been the one catching the Snitch against Hufflepuff, giving the victory to Slytherin. He was determined to make up for it by helping beat Ravenclaw. As he strode towards the exit of the changing rooms, he almost bumped into Venus, who looked equally determined. Sirius opened the door to let her pass.

"Ladies first," Sirius said.

"Thanks, Sirius," Venus said, smiling, as she stepped out.

At that moment, Sirius was particularly glad she had stopped calling him Black. He didn't need reminding that his brother was on the enemy's side.

The game was a four-hour long, nasty affair. The Ravenclaws had started making more fouls than usual, and the Gryffindors, who were already in a bad mood, retaliated to the maximum. Brody only scored one goal. Sirius suspected him of not giving it his best, as most of his friends and family members were in Ravenclaw, not to mention his girlfriend. Fortunately, James and Venus both did very well, and Stephen Crossley's performance was outstanding, stopping a lot of the Ravenclaws' attempts at scoring. Finally, when everyone was starting to wonder if James and the Ravenclaws' Captain shouldn't just agree to end the match there, the Gryffindors' Seeker, Lawrence Corner, a thin, rather small fifth year boy, caught the Snitch. Even though the audience was less numerous than usual, given what little was at stake for that game, there was a loud roar and the Gryffindor team flew to the ground as one, towards where Lawrence stood, holding the Snitch with his hand high in the air.

"You did it!" James shouted, looking proud of the new Seeker who had started only months ago and whom James had taken under his wing.

There was a tremendous group hug, and Sirius briefly wondered if Lawrence would be crushed under their weight. As the hug dissolved and James distributed hive-fives all around, Sirius was pulled into another embrace, so quick that he barely had time to register the fact that Venus had hugged him for the first time since they knew each other.

"What was that for?" Sirius asked, dumbfounded.

"Protecting me from the Bludger twice today."

Sirius smiled. He had indeed kept a particularly close watch on Venus during the game.

"I really should do that more often, then," Sirius said.

Venus smiled back and was going to reply, when James jumped in the middle of them and clapped Sirius on the back with such strength that Sirius winced.

"Padfoot! You really did amazingly well today, my dear friend!"

"Better than usual, you mean," Sirius said, rolling his eyes, but James's smile was contagious, and he found himself grinning.

"Well, we all know you don't always put your best efforts in the game," James admitted. "But today, you did. And _you_ , my lovely, you were absolutely fantastic!"

James turned to Venus and hugged her tight. After victories, James was famous for getting very touchy-feely and prone to calling everyone his "dear friend".

"Sirius, help! My 'dear friend' James is smothering me!" Venus said, her voice muffled by James's robes.

"Humour him, it's been a while since the last time James was in such close contact with a girl," Sirius said, snickering.

"Ha ha," James said, having let go of Venus. "It's been a while for you, too, Sirius."

Venus raised her eyebrows, looking like she didn't know whether to believe this information or not. Sirius was perfectly aware of the reputation he had in Hogwarts regarding girls, said reputation being based mostly on rumours that were not true. A lot of those rumours had probably been started by the concerned girls themselves, to make up for his lack of interest for them. It was, however, an image that he rather liked to maintain.

"Shut up, you git," Sirius said, shoving James playfully. "And treat me more like the Quidditch God I am, my dear friend."

* * *

After a few minutes, the elation of the victory passed by, and James's foul mood returned. He was even more annoyed that Gryffindor had won but still had lost the Cup to the Slytherins. He seemed to have taken it personally, and scowled at every Slytherin that passed him by. The only thing refraining him from hexing the lot of them was the effort he had been making for the past couple of months to do his best not to upset Lily. Finally, Lily was starting to see his qualities, and he thought they could now consider themselves friends. The only silver lining of the Puritas meetings was that at least, it had brought them closer together, against a common enemy.

On the last day of classes before the exams, James and Lily left the Potions classroom together, discussing Quidditch, and more particularly in James's opinion, Lily's lack of understanding of the importance of Quidditch.

"But you don't understand, Lily, the Quidditch Cup _is_ the most important thing here," James said.

Lily laughed, looking amused, and shook her head.

"What about exams? Isn't this why we're here?"

"Come on, for people like you and me, exams are just a formality," James said, with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Anna exited the classroom as well and joined James and Lily. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Snape standing alone a few feet away, scowling at him. James walked towards him, his hand gripping his wand inside the pockets of his robes.

"Do you have a problem, Snape?" James said.

James refrained himself from calling him Snivellus, but his hatred for Snape was dripping from each word he said to him. Snape stared at him with an equal loathing in his eyes. Every week brought more news about attacks on Muggles, Squibs and Muggle-born wizards and witches, everywhere in Britain, and that did nothing to help James control his hatred for Snape.

"You hide your opinions pretty well, Potter, for a pureblood supremacist," Snape said, very quietly.

James's grip on his wand tightened.

"What the hell did you just say?" James hissed. " _You_ of all people know that I've never had any link with all that."

"That's not what I heard," Snape sneered.

At that moment, James's conviction that Snape had been the one spreading the rumour about him was strengthened.

"I wonder what Lily would think about that? Don't fool yourself for one second that she actually likes you," Snape said.

At the mention of Lily, James snapped. In one second, James's wand was out and pointed at the door directly behind Snape.

" _Aberto_!"

The door opened very abruptly, knocking Snape's head over. Snape keeled over in pain.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you crazy?" Lily cried, running towards them. "Ten points from Gryffindor!"

James turned to Lily, flabbergasted. Snape stood up, rubbing his greasy haired head, and wearing a tiny, satisfied smirk.

"But, Lily!" James roared. "You can't -"

"I _can_ ," Lily said firmly. "Now, Severus, you'd better leave before I have to take points from Slytherin as well."

Snape stared at Lily for a while, and then walked away. James felt the anger and resentment of the past few weeks flow through his veins and burst out.

"I can't believe you!" James cried, pointing at Lily. "How can you defend him while he's for sure a Death -"

"Keep your voice down!" Lily hissed, looking around.

Lily grabbed the front of James's robes and pulled him further from the little group of their classmates and out of their earshot.

"He is _evil_ , Lily! How can you still defend him?"

"I do not defend him," Lily said. "You know I couldn't - it's just, it's complicated."

They scowled at each other and James shook his head.

"You can't understand," Lily said coldly.

Lily's eyes were filled with tears, but she turned away before letting anyone see the tears run down her cheeks.

* * *

The exams, in between the OWLs and NEWTs years, were not extremely stressful, and overall took place without a hitch. The last exam was Charms, and that year Professor Flitwick tried something different: a practical exam, by teams of two students. Remus had been paired with Venus and they had been drawn to go last. The students queuing for the exam had to wait in a room adjacent to the Charms classroom, and the ones having already taken the exam couldn't enter that room again. Therefore, two by two the students left the room, the atmosphere getting more tense as the room emptied. When Sirius and Lily who, to their dismay, had been paired up together, went into the classroom, Venus and Remus found themselves alone in the room, sitting side by side at a table.

"Remus, I've been meaning to tell you something, but I haven't got round to being alone with you. You're - you're a werewolf, aren't you?"

Remus turned to her, his eyes wide with horror.

"It's alright, Remus, I guessed a while ago, back when we had all those detentions together. Besides, I've always thought there was something special about you."

"You make it sound like it's special in a good way," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I don't know. Your scars - they're kind of sexy."

Venus smiled, amused, as Remus's cheeks turned red. He put a hand up to his face, absent-mindedly touching the scar on his forehead and trying to hide behind his hand.

"You can relax, you know. Or are you so worried about the exam?"

"That, and, well - I'm not used to beautiful girls flirting with me," Remus said. "I don't even know how to flirt, really."

"That's why I like doing it with you. Cause you don't think you can get in anyone's pants just because you're - never mind."

Venus's smile had disappeared and Remus wondered if she was thinking about Sirius.

"But listen, I was just joking around, I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"No, it's okay, I like it, actually," Remus said, smiling. "It's nice not to have Sirius or James get all the attention for once."

"That's the spirit. I just - I've really appreciated your friendship this year. Besides James, you're the nicest bloke around, as far as I'm concerned. And by the way, any girl would be lucky to date you."

"Oh yes, girls like dangerous, furry beasts, don't they?"

Venus rolled her eyes.

"Don't make me compliment you again! Otherwise you may start thinking I fancy you, or become big-headed."

"No chance of either of these things happening, I can assure you. I know you're out of my league."

Venus looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Can I tell you something and you promise you won't make a big deal out of it?"

Remus nodded.

"Can you guess who was my first crush? I'm not talking about celebrity crush, but a real life one. And not about older blokes which obviously is what you look at first, but I'm talking about the first boy I fancied that was my age. Well, it was you, actually."

"Me?" Remus said incredulously.

Venus chuckled, shaking her head at the look on Remus's face.

"How? Why?" Remus asked, his voice quivering slightly with shock.

"Well, for starters, you're really smart and nice, but I hope you know that by now. It was around third or fourth year, you know, when I became taller than most blokes and they looked like little boys to me, both mentally and physically. I don't know, you were taller and more mature and mysterious than the rest of them. Plus, you weren't going around making poop or tits jokes every five minutes."

Remus frowned, his eyes fixed on the wall in front of them without actually seeing it, trying to think of how it was back in their third and fourth year. But most of the memories he came up with were mischief with his friends, full moon nights, and classes.

"I never noticed that you fancied me."

"Oh, I was hiding it very well," Venus smiled. "Never told anyone about it. James would never had let me live it down. And then, you know, I grew out of it."

"I'm flattered," Remus said, with a pleased smile. "I can't believe I had no idea. Any other pretty girls fancied me without me knowing?"

Remus's eyes were twinkling.

"Easy there, playboy!" Venus said, chuckling. "So you see, you don't need to be embarrassed around me, or intimidated, I was the one who was too shy to talk to you, and who was trying to find a way to invite you for a drink in Hogsmeade without James finding out."

"And I probably would have said yes, to be honest," Remus said. "But James would have found out for sure."

"Damn James," Venus said, but she was smiling. "He scared boys away from me several times, but well, I wouldn't have it any other way. I do love him dearly. And I hope that one day, soon, you know, he'll make it."

"With Lily?"

They smiled at each other.

"Exactly," Venus said. "Seriously, I've been trying to get her to like James for years, I deserve a medal or something."

"I have hopes," Remus said. "Well, thanks for that, I actually feel less stressed about the exam now."

They remained silent for a moment, wondering how Lily and Sirius were faring in the next room. Remus remembered that earlier on, when there were a few people in the room, there had been a conversation about career prospects.

"So now you know why the subjects I choose for next year are not that important," Remus said. "Doesn't matter, it's not like I can get a good job anyway."

A shadow passed over Remus's face and Venus tugged at her ponytail, wondering whether or not to reach out to him. But a moment later, the shadow was gone and he looked at her.

"What about you? Any plans for after Hogwarts?" Remus asked.

Venus gave a derisive snort.

"I keep thinking I'll come up with an amazing idea within a year."

Venus had recently had a stern conversation with Professor McGonagall, who had told her what Venus already knew, that her grades were not high enough to have a shot at becoming an Auror one day. She excelled at Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms, and was quite good at Transfiguration, but was just above average in most other subjects. Her other dream job was professional Quidditch player, but she didn't seriously think that was very likely, no matter what she and James liked to fantasize about since they were eight years old.

"I'll probably end up working for the Ministry," Venus shrugged. "There's lots of jobs there, and of course my father working there is a big help."

"It's not that bad," Remus said, seeing the look on her face.

"Yeah, you're right," Venus said quickly. "It's just - I guess I'm in no hurry for school to end, in a way. The real world's kind of scary. I can't even imagine what it's like for you. But well, at least you've got great friends to support you, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Remus said, smiling.

"And I hope you count me as one of them. Hopefully you will still do, after this exam."

They actually did an excellent job, and when they left the classroom, Venus, elated with the end of the exams, put one arm around Remus and gave him a kiss on the cheek. They then realised Sirius, Lily and James were in the corridor, waiting in uncharacteristic silence.

"Well I thought we made an amazing team, so where is my kiss?" Sirius asked Lily.

"In your dreams, Sirius."

Sirius pretended to keel over, one hand on his chest.

"Ah, you broke my heart, Evans," Sirius said.

Lily chuckled, walked towards Venus and took her by the arm. Sirius and Remus watched as the two girls walked away.

"You know, our Prongs has been very disgruntled lately," Sirius said quietly.

James was leaning against the wall a bit further away, sulking. Remus knew it had been a tough month for James, between the rumours about him, losing the Quidditch Cup to the Slytherins and his argument with Lily. As far as Remus knew, Lily and James had barely spoken since.

"I've noticed."

"We need to take action. You know what that means, Moony?"

Remus smiled.

"Prank?" Remus asked.

Sirius nodded firmly, clapping Remus on the back.

"Prank."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

As was their habit every year, the Gryffindor sixth year girls shared a compartment on the train back to Kings Cross. Venus spent a while with her sister Iris in a compartment full of excited fourth years. When Venus came back to her friends' compartment, they were talking about boys. Anna and Mary were sitting next to each other, facing Lily and Calliope Turner, who preferred being called Callie. Venus sat down next to Callie and stretched her long legs, while thinking that she wouldn't mind getting something to eat.

"So, I heard Stephen Crossley's single now," Callie said. "Best news of the week."

Callie's curly brown hair bounced as she nodded her head enthusiastically.

"He's also leaving Hogwarts, that was his last year," Lily said. "You might want to act fast."

Venus knew that the topic was merely an attempt to lighten up the mood and she didn't want either to talk about the rise of Voldemort or the increasing number of attacks, or what they would all have to face the following year when they wouldn't be sheltered in Hogwarts anymore. Still, she gave a small sigh and suddenly wished she was with James.

"Venus, you're on the team with him, you probably have some dirt on his break-up," Callie said.

Venus rolled her eyes. She often felt like none of her female friends really understood or cared about Quidditch.

"Callie, we play Quidditch together," Venus said. "I don't spend practices holding the boys' hands while they cry their heart out about girls. We don't talk about that."

"Well, Stephen _is_ handsome, but he doesn't hold a candle to Sirius," Mary said.

Here we go, Venus thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes again. Mary had fancied Sirius since what seemed like forever, and was probably their third year. Mary and Venus had never really got along anyway, but things between them had been more frosty than usual between them ever since Sirius and Venus had started behaving in a more civilised way.

"I'm sure you agree, Callie, don't you?" Mary said.

Mary's pale blue eyes were like ice and her thin lips formed a tight dry line.

"For Merlin's sake, Mary, I kissed him once, two years ago," Callie said. "You know that."

"Well, you're the only one here who's kissed him, aren't you?" Mary said, looking defiantly at Venus.

"Can't we spend one day without talking about Sirius Black's gorgeous smile, Sirius Black's soft lips or Sirius Black's muscles?" Venus said, sighing. "Am I the only one here who thinks we can talk about something else?"

"No, I think the same," Lily said. "Look, Venus, let's go and get a cup of tea, right? We'll see you later, girls."

Once Lily and Venus were out of the compartment, Venus smiled at Lily.

"Thanks for that," Venus said. "I'm sorry, but I can't stand Mary when she's like this."

"You know Mary's my friend," Lily said. "But it's true that she's usually not fair to you, and this thing she has with Sirius just drives me crazy, too. Oh, you know what? We could go and ask Remus if he wants to join us? At least there's no chance he'll have the same topic of conversation."

Venus nodded and followed Lily along the corridor.

"Good idea. By the way, I didn't have a chance to tell you before. This morning I heard a couple of seventh year Ravenclaw girls talking about Puritas and how they'd really enjoyed the meetings. I'm surprised they weren't more careful and didn't care if I heard them. But I guess they're not coming back to Hogwarts anyway, so they don't care that much about what people here think of them," Venus said, wrinkling her nose. " _Ravenclaws_ , Lily. So it's not only Slytherins. Who knows who else is part of it, who else has these ideas."

Lily smiled grimly. She had been wondering exactly that for the past couple of months, trying not to become obsessed with it and paranoid. But sometimes, it seemed to her like the circle of people she could trust was getting smaller and smaller. And even though they still had arguments from time to time, she had to admit that James Potter was definitely part of that circle.

"And, Lily… I've been thinking about this all day. Those girls, they mentioned Brody's name. They said he always gave brilliant speeches."

Lily felt a shiver run down her spine. She could hardly believe that someone she had known for six years, whom she had shared classes, meals and jokes with, could have such ideas.

"That doesn't make sense though," Venus said. "I mean, you know Brody, he's not like that. Maybe I misheard."

Venus seemed quite sure that it couldn't be true, and she was probably the person closest to Brody in Gryffindor. Lily wasn't convinced either way, but she felt a sharp pang in her stomach, and she knew she had to try and forget about all this for a while.

"I'm so glad that I won't hear any more about purebloods and Muggle-borns for two months," Lily said. "It's just going to be me and my parents this summer. We're going to spend two weeks in the South of France. It's been a couple of years we didn't go on a proper holiday, it's going to be nice."

"I'm sure it will," Venus said. "You deserve a break, Lily, you really do."

It had indeed been quite a difficult year for Lily, who also had issues at home with her sister and her new boyfriend. Petunia had started dating someone from her office and, from the little information she had got from her parents' letters, Lily was not really looking forward to meeting him. She doubted this Vernon Dursley would rejoice at meeting a witch.

"What about you, what are your plans? You're going to Italy, aren't you?" Lily said.

Venus's mother was originally from Italy and still had family there, that they went to visit most summers.

"Yeah, it's going to be a bit overwhelming as usual. But I do love to play Quidditch with my cousins, so it will be fun."

A group of third years almost ran past them. Lily briefly considered telling them off, but realised she couldn't be bothered, and merely scowled at them as they disappeared behind a compartment door amidst shrieks of laughter.

"And then after you're back, you'll have a party for your birthday, right? Is that still happening? I can help you if you need anything."

"Thanks, Lily! I might need some help with decorating, I know you're good with this kind of spells."

The two girls chatted some more about the party, until they reached the Marauders' compartment. Lily took a deep breath and opened the compartment's door. James and Peter were talking, Remus was staring off into the passing landscape through the window, and Sirius was sprawled on the seats.

"Ah, ladies," Sirius said. "Just when I was craving some distraction. Here, I'll make space for you."

Sirius straightened up so that he was no longer occupying three seats, but only one. Lily rolled her eyes and neither she nor Venus sat down. James avoided Lily's eyes and was staring at the wall in front of him.

"If you guys are free on 7th of August, I'm having a party at my place, for my seventeenth birthday," Venus said.

"Cool!" James said. "Sure, count me in, Vee."

"Do you mean _all_ of us are invited?" Sirius said, frowning.

"Yes," Venus nodded. "All of you."

Sirius's face broke into a smile.

"Well, if James's going, I'm going," Sirius said.

Remus and Peter nodded in agreement.

"Great, so we came to ask you this," Lily said, "and also, Remus, do you want to come with us? We're on our way to get a cup of tea."

Sirius sniggered.

"A tea? Blimey, school's over, Evans, don't get _too_ crazy!"

"I don't believe I've included you in the invitation," Lily said coolly.

Sirius's smirk disappeared at once, and behind Lily, Venus stifled a snicker.

"Very well, take Remus with you, since you love him so much," James said, pouting, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You don't have to be such a child, you know," Lily said.

"And you don't have to talk about me as if I'm an object that gets carried around," Remus said, shaking his head at James. "Anyway, sure, Lily, I'll come with you."

Remus followed the girls out of the compartment and the three of them went in search of the trolley witch. Lily said she had considered taking up a summer job in the Muggle world to make some money, but her parents had convinced her to enjoy her last summer of proper holidays before graduation.

"What kind of thing can you do as summer job?" Venus said.

Lily blushed and she looked at the wall behind Venus as she answered.

"Well, you wouldn't know that, Venus," Lily said. "No offence, but like Potter and Black, you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth."

Money and blood status were topics Lily and Venus purposely avoided most of the time in their conversations. Venus turned to Remus for support.

"Remus? Are you going to be my knight in shining armour here?"

"I don't know if I should do that, I wouldn't want you to get any ideas," Remus told Venus, his eyes twinkling.

Lily stared at Remus, her eyes wide with surprise. She couldn't recall ever hearing Remus talk to a girl in a flirty tone before. Venus smiled at Remus, and then laughed when she saw the look on Lily's face.

"Have I missed something?" Lily asked.

"Relax, Lily," Venus said. "Remus's only joking."

Lily's eyes went from Remus to Venus and back again, and then she smiled.

"No, I mean, I think it'd be wonderful if I had missed something," Lily said.

"You haven't missed anything," Venus said. "Seriously. It's just a private joke. And Remus has been spending too much time with Sirius for his own good."

Lily nodded; she was only half convinced, but didn't want to push it.

"I can make jokes too, you know," Remus said, smiling, and then he looked around, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "It's not James's or Sirius's monopoly. And there's no law yet prohibiting werewolves from making jokes."

Lily gasped and turned to Venus, expecting the other girl to display some sort of surprise. But then, she instantly realised that if Remus said this so openly, it meant Venus already knew.

"You knew?" Lily and Venus said at the same time.

They both smiled.

"At least that's proof you've really been keeping it a secret, even from each other," Remus said. "Thank you, again."

"You don't have to thank us," Venus said. "Oh, there she is."

They bought tea and biscuits from the trolley witch, and went in search of a compartment where they could sit. As they walked through their second corridor, the door to a compartment opened and a group of boys stepped out, chattering loudly. They were going the opposite way from Lily, Venus and Remus, and there was some awkward shuffling around and making way for one another, the girls and Remus struggling not to spill their cups of tea. One of the boys, tall with short curly brown hair and strikingly blue eyes, said hello to Lily and Remus and smiled at them before disappearing with his friends. Venus, Remus and Lily entered the compartment the boys had left empty, and sat down.

"Who was _that?_ " Venus said, looking slightly flustered.

"Oh, you mean Lee Dunyard?" Lily said. "He's a fifth year, from Ravenclaw."

"Merlin, he's really good-looking! How come I've never noticed him before? Where's he been hiding all year?"

"It seems he had a late growth spurt," Lily said, chuckling. "But yes, he's turning out to be really handsome, actually."

"How do you know him?" Venus asked.

"He's a Prefect," Remus said, tapping his own Prefect badge with his index finger.

"Well, too bad he doesn't play Quidditch, but nobody's perfect," Venus said, smiling. "Damn it, I should have spent more time studying and being disciplined and be made a Prefect, so I could've spent some time with Hot Prefect."

"Ah, so finally you found someone you like," Lily said, teasingly.

"This coming from Miss High Standards," Venus rolled her eyes. "Anyway, tell us more about what you're going to do in France."

Once they had finished their teas, they hung around some more, until Remus told the two girls he'd better go back to this friends before they launched a recovery mission. When Remus entered into the Marauders' compartment, he was greeted with uncharacteristic silence and two disgruntled faces, the third face just looking at him neutrally.

"Seriously?" Remus said, shaking his head, as he sat down next to Sirius. "Don't tell me you're cross with me."

"We are honoured you have decided that we were worth some more of your time on this train," James said haughtily.

Remus laughed at the look on James's face, and Sirius's childish pout.

"I get why Prongs's jealous of me for spending time with Lily, but what on earth are you jealous about, Padfoot?"

Remus tried not to laugh again as he saw Sirius struggle to come up with an answer, knowing full well what Sirius had been jealous about, and also knowing that Sirius would not admit it.

"I just missed you, is all," Sirius sniffed, shrugging. "We won't see each other for a while after today."

"A few weeks, Padfoot," Remus said, grinning.

Remus was planning to spend a lot of time with his father over the summer. His mother had died during his fourth year at Hogwarts, and he knew his father was lonely, even though he had never said anything. James patted Sirius's shoulder.

"And I already told you, it's not because you got your own place now that you can't spend loads of time at mine. You know my parents love to have you around."

"Well, of course, I am very charming company," Sirius said. "I'm sure Moony will remember that in time."

* * *

As Sirius parked his brand new motorbike in front of Venus's house, James immediately saw the group of girls standing there. One of these girls was Lily, and James waved at her. Lily smiled and waved back, shaking her head. James sighed of relief, as he had been a bit worried Lily was still cross with him. Mary and Callie, who were smoking cigarettes, were staring open-mouthed at the bike, while Anna stood behind Lily.

"Way to make an entrance, Padfoot," James said, grinning and clapping Sirius's shoulder as he got off the bike.

The four girls walked towards them and they all greeted one another. James looked at Lily eagerly. Although it had been only five weeks - yes, he had been counting - it felt like a long time. Lily was wearing a white dress, and looked absolutely lovely. The freckles on her face were particularly noticeable in summer.

"It's good to see you, James," Lily said.

Lily smiled at him. James thought that if he played his cards right, maybe seventh year was going to be the year of success. James considered his next words, but the girls were already bombarding Sirius with questions about the motorbike. James rolled his eyes, feeling just a little bit jealous, and headed towards the house, carrying a bottle of Firewhiskey and Venus's birthday gift. He rang the bell to the house where Venus lived with her mum and her younger sister, her older sister Emmeline having moved out to her own place a couple of years previously. He entered without waiting for someone to open to him, and found Venus coming out of the kitchen.

"Happy birthday! Welcome to adulthood!"

James gave Venus a quick hug and followed her into the kitchen, where Remus and Peter already were. Remus was performing some cleaning spells on glasses and plates, while Peter sat at the table, eating crisps.

"I'm not surprised you're already here, Moony," James said, smirking. "Whenever Moony's invited to a party at 7, he'll arrive at 6.59, even though the host is still preparing everything."

Remus flushed slightly and rolled his eyes.

"Remus has been really helpful. _You_ 're late, by the way," Venus said lightly. "Last ones to arrive."

"I know! It's Sirius's fault, he spent like an hour at home in front of the mirror getting ready," James said, sniggering.

"Where's he, then?" Venus asked. "Or is he still in front of the mirror?"

"He's outside. You should go and see, Sirius's got something to show you that I think you'll like. Sorry, that didn't sound dirty in my head," James added, seeing the look on Venus's face. "Anyway, before you go, here."

James grinned and handed Venus an envelope.

"It's from me and Sirius."

Venus raised her eyebrows.

"Does it explode?" Venus said, smirking.

Venus quickly tore open the envelope, pulling out a ticket to the Grand Christmas Quidditch Gala match 1977. It was a yearly game involving famous international players and retired players. Venus had always wanted to go, but because of the traditional fair amount of drinking going on in the stands to keep warm, the spectators had to be of age to enter.

"That's awesome! Thank you, JP!"

"Sirius and I've got our own tickets, I can't wait to be there with you guys!" James said, grinning. "Now go on, you should go outside. You should grab Lily and get her back inside, while you're at it. She's speaking to me again!"

When Venus stepped outside, she immediately saw Sirius sitting on a big black gleaming motorbike. Anna, Mary, Callie and Lily were talking with him, the former three giggling and Lily's expression hovering between disapproval and amusement.

"Here's the birthday girl!" Sirius said. "Happy birthday!"

Venus was very aware of his gaze fixed on her as she walked towards them. She found herself straightening up and wondered when she had started caring about how she looked in front of Sirius Black.

"Thank you for the gift. And what's this?"

"Got it earlier this summer," Sirius said, caressing the motorbike almost lovingly. "Cool, isn't it? I'm chuffed with it. It flies, actually, but better not do that round here just in case there's any Muggles."

Venus would rather not admit it, but she did think it was really cool. She walked around the motorbike, trying to hide her admiration.

"Like what you see?" Sirius said, smiling. "Fancy a ride?"

Venus looked at her friends as if silently asking them what she should answer. Mary couldn't hide her disappointment at not being asked. Anna and Callie looked like they were suppressing a giggle, and Lily's eyes were twinkling as she returned Venus's stare. Lily gave her a small nod.

"All right." Venus shrugged, trying to appear as if it didn't matter to her either way. "I suppose."

The other girls took a few steps back towards the house.

"Then hop on, lady. Need any help?"

Sirius looked at her navy blue dress and golden sandals. It definitely wasn't the best attire for motorbike riding, but Venus felt that if she went back inside to change, it would become a big deal and people inside may come out to watch as well.

"No, I can manage. I'm just not wearing the best outfit for this, that's all."

Venus pulled her dress up to climb onto the bike behind Sirius, who turned his head not so discreetly to get a good glimpse of her legs. Her heart was already pounding in anticipation and she couldn't wait for him to start the bike.

"We can agree to disagree on this," Sirius said, winking.

Venus rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the pounding of her heart, which had significantly increased.

"I'll see you in a bit," Venus told her friends. "Will you –"

"I'll take care of the party," Lily said. "Don't worry."

The girls walked towards the door and were now out of earshot.

"All right, let's go. Hold on to me."

There was a loud roar as Sirius pushed a button.

"What?" Venus said loudly, to cover the sound of the engine.

"You don't want to fall, do you? Then I'm afraid you'll need to put your arms around my waist."

Venus leaned back and tentatively put one hand on Sirius's hip, her brain sending her awkwardness alert signals. On the other hand, she didn't want to take any risks unnecessarily.

"I promise I won't take this as an invitation," Sirius said.

She felt her thighs rubbing against Sirius's and as she leant forward to put her arms around his waist she could smell the leather of his jacket alongside a sweeter scent which she had never got close enough to smell before. And then they set off. Venus held Sirius tighter as he took a sharp corner, and enjoyed the adrenaline rush through her veins. She felt more alive than she had felt in a long time. After five minutes that felt like seconds, they reached a small green space and Sirius parked the motorbike in front of it.

"Wow, that was _amazing_ ," Venus said as she climbed off the bike.

Sirius couldn't remember ever seeing such a wide, happy smile on her face, except on the Quidditch pitch. He also got off the bike and turned to look at her. Glowing in the faint light of the nearby street lamps, she looked beautiful.

"I'd really love to drive it," Venus said. "I don't suppose you'll let anyone drive it though, would you? What would be your price?"

"A kiss," Sirius said without thinking.

Venus scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, balancing her weight on one leg.

"Are you taking the piss?"

"Well, yeah, okay, I wouldn't let you or anyone else drive it, not even James. I'd still like a kiss though."

Venus frowned and for the first time, seemed to consider the fact that he might be serious. She ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it back.

"Are you drunk?"

"No," Sirius said.

Although he had drunk one Firewhiskey with James before going, his head felt clearer than it had in ages. Venus seemed to have run out of questions, and was staring off into the distance.

"Tell you what, you can at least get on the driver's seat and I can show you how to use it."

Venus smiled brightly and she didn't need to be told twice. She climbed back on the bike, an expression of awe on her face. Sirius leaned in close to her as he explained how to start the bike and how to use the brakes. Venus was listening intently, but she shivered a couple of times. She was wearing only a sleeveless dress and the night had fallen.

"D'you want my jacket?"

Sirius was already taking off his black leather jacket and Venus jumped off the bike and let him help put the jacket around her shoulders.

"Are you cold?" Sirius asked softly.

"Not anymore."

Venus closed the space between them and kissed him. It took his brain a couple of seconds to register that fact, and then he started kissing her back and lowering his hands to her waist, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. His mind was blank and when she pulled back and looked at him, his heart skipped a bit and he thought he now understood James when he ended up saying stupid things to Lily.

"Damn, look at how far you're willing to go to drive that motorbike," Sirius said.

Venus chuckled, and took one step back. She stared at him for a moment and then started pacing around the bench behind him.

"Look, Sirius, I really appreciate the ride and all that, but I'd prefer to keep this – what just happened, between us, all right?"

Sirius nodded. He thought that was probably best. He didn't really want to turn everybody's attention to the fact that they had kissed, when even he didn't know what to do about it himself. He despised gossip, and pressure from society in general. He could already imagine James's delighted smile and the pressure his best friend would unconsciously put on him. He knew James had been rooting for Venus to be Sirius's girlfriend for ages, dropping not so discreet hints since their fifth year at Hogwarts. The common birthday present they had given to Venus, originally James's idea, was only one of those hints.

"Especially tonight. Back at my place, there's Caradoc. Caradoc Dearborn. We've – we've kind of been going on dates this summer."

Sirius still remained silent, unhappy with the flash of jealousy her words had just brought. He narrowed his eyes as he watched Venus walk around, moving her hands as she spoke.

"I mean, dates are boring," Venus said quickly. "And all that couple stuff, that's not for me. Also, in a few weeks, I'll be back in Hogwarts and Caradoc will still be in London working for the Ministry, so there's no way he or I, or both, won't lose interest. What I'm trying to say is, it doesn't really _matter,_ it's not going to last or anything, but I just wanted to let you know. 'Cause, you know, I don't want to cause a scene with him tonight."

"Well, thanks for the heads up," Sirius growled.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to say, I honestly had no idea this would happen."

Venus took his hand and held it limply for a moment, looking like she didn't know what to do with it, until he snatched it back and turned away.

"Don't apologise. You don't owe me anything," Sirius said, shrugging.

Sirius made his way in silence back onto the bike, Venus following suit. This time, there was a new sense of intimacy as she put her arms around him. He looked at her in the mirror; she was staring into the distance, looking confused. He sighed.

"Look, I meant it when I said you didn't owe me anything. I don't want to be your boyfriend, I don't want to take you out and buy your flowers and whatnot. Just try not to snog Dearborn in front of me, okay?"

Venus's cat-like eyes peered at his reflection in the mirror. Sirius had the unnerving impression that she knew exactly what he was thinking. She didn't reply, but she put his jacket back on his shoulders, brushed his hair away and placed a kiss on his neck, sending shivers down his spine which had nothing to do with the cold. He reached out behind him with one hand and stroked her thigh.

"Just to be clear, this was only about the motorbike. I wouldn't have kissed you if it wasn't for that."

Venus's smirk belied her words, and his hand was still on her thigh.

"Obviously, that's very clear. And you didn't even get to drive it. I'm afraid you got ripped off here, Vance."

"Not from my point of view," Venus said. "Hands on the handlebars, Black."

The neighbourhood was dark and quiet when they reached Venus's house and came to a stop. Venus got off the bike immediately, as if she was afraid of what would happen if she stayed close to him any longer. He really wanted to kiss her again, but thought that was probably a bad idea. He turned off the engine as she glanced at the house nervously. They could hear loud music and the sound of people laughing and chatting in the big house.

"Right, I'd better head back in," Venus said briskly.

She started walking away without waiting for him, but turned again after a few steps.

"Oh, and, Sirius?"

Sirius was still sitting on his bike, watching her.

"You've got lipstick there," Venus said, pointing at her bottom lip.

"Thanks for letting me know," Sirius said, smirking. "Don't worry, I'll wipe it off, nobody will know you've been snogging my face off."

While Venus seemed to consider her next words, the front door opened and a tall, broad-shouldered young man stepped out. He had light brown hair falling in ringlets around his square face, which Sirius thought made him look like he was wearing a woman's wig, but he was probably not objective. Sirius recognised him as he had been in Gryffindor three years above them and had been in the Quidditch team long before Sirius joined it. It was Caradoc Dearborn.

"Here you are! I've been looking for you everywhere, baby," Caradoc said.

Sirius rolled his eyes. He was however pleased to note that Venus didn't seem to be thrilled with being called baby, either. He saw her taking a tiny step back from Caradoc.

"Sirius was just showing me his new motorbike," Venus said. "It's really cool."

"Oh yeah?" Caradoc said, barely giving the motorbike and Sirius a second glance. "Hi Sirius, long time no see."

"Evening," Sirius said, trying his best to sound mature and cool.

"Venus, we'd better go back inside, don't you think? We've all been waiting for you for the cake!" Caradoc said.

Caradoc placed a large muscular arm around Venus's shoulders and started to lead her back in. Once they had disappeared back in the house, Sirius got off his bike, muttering swear words under his breath. He rubbed his bottom lip, and then gave a small smile at the red-tainted back of his hand. If it wasn't for this, he wouldn't have been totally sure he had not dreamt that kiss.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

As she finished dancing with James, Venus caught Sirius's eyes looking at her, just above James's shoulder. James made her twirl around as the song ended, and by the time her gaze could focus again on Sirius, he was making a great show of pouring Lily another drink and talking to her. James mentioned something about getting Lily to dance with him and steered Venus towards the corner of the room where Sirius and Lily were standing.

"You two don't miss any occasion to show off your dancing skills, do you?" Lily said, smiling.

Venus's and James's parents had more or less forced them to choose a summer activity together when they were fourteen, as Mrs Potter was tired of her son's antics and wanted him to learn something new, that would get him out of home. Venus had chosen rock and roll dancing, because she loved rock music and she was also fond of dancing. James had gone along grudgingly to the first lesson, complaining that he had had no say in it, but he had ended up enjoying so much that they still practiced together from time to time.

"We're not showing off, Lily, we really enjoy it," Venus said.

Loud laughter erupted from the opposite corner of the room, where Caradoc was apparently telling a joke to Anna, Mary and Peter. Venus curled her lip as she glanced at them briefly.

"We just happen to look good while doing it, that's all," James said.

Lily rolled her eyes, but it seemed she was doing it more out of habit than anything else. It was quite obvious James was hiding a smile, and only pretending to brag.

"Want to dance?" James asked, casually extending his hand towards Lily.

Lily looked down at James's hand, her flushed cheeks noticeable even in the dim light of the living room.

"Oh, I'm - I'm not very good."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," James said.

Venus clapped Lily's bare shoulder reassuringly, gently pushing her towards James.

"Don't worry, Lily, in rock and roll dance, the man's the one leading, you don't actually have to do that much, just follow his lead," Venus said.

Lily grabbed James's hand and the two of them moved towards the center of the room, totally absorbed with each other.

"I've got a feeling that's the only activity you'd let a man lead," Sirius said.

Sirius smirked and took a sip of his Firewhiskey. Venus raised her eyebrows.

"I bet you'd like to find out if that's true."

Venus winked and watched as Sirius coughed on his drink, clearly surprised at her come-back. Brody called Venus over, asking her where he could find additional glasses. Venus walked over to him, giving James's back a playful shove as she passed him by.

"Sorry I'm not as good as Venus," Lily said.

"You're doing great," James said, squeezing Lily's hand. "You're good at everything you do."

Lily smiled, shaking her head.

"I'm definitely not, but thanks, James."

When the song was over, they went to the kitchen to get a drink. Brody and Adelaide, who had been kissing passionately, pulled apart and left the kitchen, both looking slightly flustered.

"What would you like?" James said, looking at the large choice of beverages on the wooden table.

"Firewhiskey," Lily said.

James raised his eyebrows.

"Really? Are you sure?"

Lily rolled her eyes and raised her glass towards James, who promptly filled it with Firewhiskey.

"You don't think I'm uptight, do you?" Lily said.

Lily's eyes widened as James's hand went straight to his hair and he shuffled his feet, glancing down.

"Well, no, I mean -"

"Oh Merlin, you _do._ You think I'm boring."

Lily often feared that most people did not see beyond her top-of-the-class and Prefect persona. It did not always bother her, but it did bother her now if James Potter was among those people. A small part of her wanted him to find her as interesting as she found him, no matter how infuriating he could be.

"I don't, Lily! What are you on about?"

"Well, I'm not," Lily said. "I know how to have fun, let my hair down."

James smirked.

"What?"

"You're cute," James said. "And no, I don't think you're uptight. I think you just haven't spent enough time with the right people yet, that's all."

Lily took a sip of her Firewhiskey, half regretting her choice as it burnt her throat. She refrained from coughing as James hid a smile behind his glass. Lily tried to regain her composure, pretending to smooth her hand down with one hand.

"What are you laughing at, Potter?" Lily said, feeling a smile creeping over her own mouth.

There was no way she would admit this to James now, but this was the first summer since they had known each other that Lily had actually missed James. Usually, she would have been relieved that she wouldn't have to see him for two months. Feeling the opposite way took some getting used to, and Lily had not yet mentioned how she felt to anyone.

"I won't say anything," James said, "as long as you promise to give me another dance."

Lily pretended to think about it, and then grinned.

"Deal."

* * *

Venus was only half listening to what Callie and Anna were saying. She kept on drawing comparisons between Caradoc and Sirius in her mind. Caradoc was smart and good-looking and good company. He was more mature and in that sense more attractive than most seventeen-years old boys at Hogwarts. But then she pictured Sirius looking impossibly cool on his motorbike, and Sirius being unexpectedly kind and giving her his jacket. She had to admit that those few minutes with Sirius had been more exciting than the half a dozen dates she had had with Caradoc. Just as she had decided that the next day she would tell Caradoc she didn't want to date him anymore, Venus looked away from her friends and saw Sirius dancing with Mary and outrageously flirting with her. Mary threw back her head, laughing, her face slightly red. Mary was so clearly basking in Sirius's attention that Venus almost felt sorry for her, below the layer of jealousy.

"I need to stock up on drinks," Venus said curtly, interrupting Anna in the middle of a sentence.

Once she had brought more drinks back from the kitchen, Venus went straight to Caradoc, who was talking with Brody and Adelaide.

"Hey you," Venus said, forcing a smile and putting an arm around Caradoc's waist.

"Hey beautiful," Caradoc said. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Caradoc's blue eyes were slightly unfocused and glassy.

"By the way," Caradoc whispered in her ear, "now that you're legally of age, I don't have any qualms anymore, what would you say to you and me continuing this party upstairs after people have gone?"

"Sure," Venus said, though she was not entirely sure yet.

Venus gave him a long kiss and his hand lingered on the small of her back. She stayed with Caradoc and refused to look again at Sirius and Mary, until at one point there was a loud noise of broken glass and raised voices in the opposite corner of the room. Venus saw Mary turn around and storm out of the room. While Lily rushed to magically take away the shattered glass bits, Venus followed Mary out into the corridor, almost running after her.

"What happened?"

Mary turned to her. Her face was red and it looked like she was about to cry. Even though Venus had spent the last hour disliking her, she still felt some sympathy for the girl with whom she had been sharing a dormitory at Hogwarts for years.

"Sirius is being a wanker," Mary said. "And I have a feeling it has something to do with you. I don't really feel like staying here anymore."

"Mary, I –"

"Save your breath," Mary interrupted. "I'll see you at school."

* * *

Sirius sat down next to Remus on the leather couch, and sighed, stretching his legs.

"Isn't it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing."

Remus glanced at Sirius and smiled affectionately.

"What have you done this time, Padfoot?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Sirius said, furrowing his brow.

Sirius had a pretty good idea what he had done wrong, but he felt in no state to face Remus's reproaches and advice right now.

"Do you want me to find out and see what we can do about it?"

Sirius raised his glass and clinked it with Remus's.

"Thanks, Moony, but no, thanks. I'd rather keep on pretending I don't know what I'm doing."

Remus snorted and shook his head.

"I should've known," Remus said. "That seems to be your life philosophy."

"And this is helping me," Sirius said, nodding at the glass of Firewhiskey in his hand.

Sirius groaned as James suddenly appeared and sat down next to Sirius, crushing Sirius's thigh in the process.

"Don't you look happy," Remus said.

James was smiling from ear to ear.

"Lily's starting to like me," James said.

James had spoken in an unnecessarily low voice. The music was loud and everyone else around was too busy drinking, dancing or talking to overhear James's words.

"Oh, good," Sirius said. "It's only taken her what - six years?"

James rolled his eyes and crushed Sirius's thigh even more.

"Padfoot's in one of his moods," Remus said in a mock earnest tone. "Don't listen to him."

Sirius glanced at Venus dancing with Caradoc, and sighed. When he returned his gaze to James, the spark of happiness in his best friend's eyes cheered him up considerably, and he managed a smile.

"I was kidding, I'm happy for you, Prongs. It seems Evans's finally come to her senses."

James grinned. They remained silent for a while, enjoying their drinks. Sirius noticed that Venus had left the room.

"It's a pretty cool party, isn't it? What time is it now?" James said.

"Just past one o'clock," Remus said, after a glance at his watch. "D'you think you're going to stay much longer?"

"Dunno," James shrugged. "Maybe one more hour? How about you, Padfoot?"

"Got some unfinished business," Sirius said.

Sirius stood up so suddenly that James almost fell over the couch. Sirius handed his almost empty glass to Remus.

"Here, hold that for me please, Remus."

"I'm not -"

"Thanks," Sirius said firmly, and turned his back on his friends.

Sirius quickly walked away before he could hear Remus's protests. He closed the door of the living room behind him and headed towards the kitchen, almost knocking over a vase in the process. He felt like doing something rash. He found Venus in the kitchen, washing up glasses with flicks of her wand. He approached as quietly as he could and placed his hands on her hips. He kissed her shoulder, making her turn around and jump as she saw him. She dropped her wand and two glasses came crashing down in the sink, exploding in little pieces.

"Damn it, Sirius!"

Venus gasped, holding up her hands. Sirius only now realised that it was not the best idea to surprise someone who was handling glasses. Alcohol made his brain take at least twice as long to work.

"Are you okay? Are your hands hurt?"

Venus looked at her hands and shook her head. She then took a sharp intake of breath and scowled again at Sirius.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said. "I didn't -"

"What is it, Sirius? Now that Mary's gone, you're looking for another toy to play with?"

Sirius was glad that his plan of making Venus jealous had worked; but it also seemed to have backfired on him.

"No, it's not -"

"You know what, I'm tired of you and Caradoc playing that macho game of who gets the girl. It's ridiculous."

Sirius just stared at her for a moment, frowning, waiting to find a decent reply. When he found none, he tried to smile and stepped closer to her.

"Just tell me one thing. Tell me you don't feel anything when I do this."

Sirius stroked Venus's cheek, pulled back a stray lock of black hair behind her ear and kissed her lips. He felt her freeze and when he pulled back, he saw she had closed her eyes. As she opened them again, her expression was definitely softer.

"You should go, Sirius, I need to take care of that mess before someone gets hurt," Venus said, gesturing towards the sink.

* * *

It took several minutes for Venus to clear up the mess in the kitchen and in her thoughts, after Sirius had gone back to the party. By the time she was done cleaning up, Anna and Callie came in, and they ended up staying in the kitchen for a while. Venus was grateful for their lively conversation. Anything to distract her from Sirius Black was most welcome.

"Let's go back in, shall we?" Callie said after a while. "I'd like to dance some more before I go."

But when the three girls entered the living room, no one was dancing. Everyone was standing around Sirius, who was holding a hand up to his face and groaning in pain, except for Caradoc who was at the other end of the room, clenching his fists.

"Caradoc jumped on him and hit him," James said quickly, his wide eyes taking in Venus's furious expression.

"Yeah, because he had just insulted me," Caradoc growled.

"You know very well why," Sirius snarled, and then glanced at Venus. "Because of what you said about her."

"Don't try to blame me! You're the one who… damn it, you're a twisted little psychopath, aren't you? Like everyone else in your family."

James cocked his head to one side and stared at Caradoc as though assessing whether to hit him or not. Sirius gave a hollow laugh.

"I'm not a psychopath, Dearborn. I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research."

"Everybody calm down," Venus said. "No need to bring Sirius's family into this. If you two can't behave like adults, I think one of you has to leave."

Caradoc puffed up his chest importantly and took a step towards her.

"Well, as _I_ am your boyfriend, I think it should be me staying."

"You're not my boyfriend," Venus said, very quietly.

There was a long silence, during which Caradoc stood there, staring at her. Someone had turned the music on again, and the cheerful rock song offered an almost comical contrast to the tension in the room.

"Well, maybe it's true what Black just told me. I didn't believe him when he said you had kissed him tonight, but now you seem to be in a hurry to get rid of me, so I guess it's probably true."

With that, Caradoc walked out without a second glance. Venus stared after him in shock, refusing to look at Sirius. She couldn't believe he had mentioned their kiss while she had expressly asked him not to. She didn't feel like she could face everyone right now, so she left the room too, hoping her friends would think that she was trying to catch Caradoc. Instead, she went to the kitchen and sat down at the big table, trying to calm down her racing pulse. It seemed everything was going wrong, and this was supposed to be her birthday, her celebration. She hit the table with her palm in frustration. She kept her eyes on the tall wooden clock in front of her; it was past two o'clock in the morning, and she suddenly felt very tired. Almost five minutes had passed when she heard a soft knock on the door. James entered the kitchen with his hands up.

"I come in peace," James said.

Venus snorted and couldn't help but smile.

"So you're the one they sent to diffuse the bomb?"

James smiled back and went to sit next to her. He put one arm around her shoulders.

"I know you don't want to hear this right now, but Sirius _is_ sorry."

Venus grunted and turned her head away like a child who had just been upset.

"If it helps, I'm pretty sure tomorrow he'll be sporting a very nice black eye. And Remus and Lily are lecturing him as we speak. Lily in particular is really cross with him."

"He screwed everything up," Venus said dejectedly.

"Sirius or Dearborn?"

"Both," Venus said. "But I was thinking of your friend, actually. Or maybe I screwed up, I don't know. You know when you want something but it's like, you act like an idiot and everything just goes wrong somehow?"

James smiled and opened his arms.

"You're looking at the specialist. Every time I'm around Lily it's like there's an outside force that makes me mess it up. Not tonight though."

For a while, the only sound was the clock ticking. Venus tried to make sense of her feelings but she just felt too tired. She only knew she didn't want to sleep alone in an empty house, and if she asked Lily to stay, she was worried Lily would ask too many questions and maybe be a bit judgemental. What she wanted was to spend some time with the only person that could understand her without speaking.

"JP, will you stay with me tonight? I still have your favourite inflatable mattress. Do you remember when we had sleepovers?"

"Yeah," James grinned. "I think we haven't had one of those since we were what - twelve, thirteen? Come on, Vee, let's go back in there and have fun, right?"

But Venus felt too ashamed to go back to the living room and too annoyed to have any fun.

"No," Venus said quickly, "I don't really want to. This party was a disaster, I just want people to leave, to be honest."

James looked into her eyes earnestly, and she knew what he was going to say. That by refusing to come out, she was just making things worse than they really were.

"I know you," James said after a pause. "I know it's really hard for you and you'd rather not face the music, but if you don't come out now, it's just going to make it look like more of a big deal."

Venus gave a great sigh.

"I suppose you're right," Venus said.

And she followed James out of the kitchen and into the living room, where the music had now been turned off completely. She saw that Peter, Brody and Adelaide were already gone, leaving only Lily, Anna, Callie, Remus and Sirius. Venus forced a cheerful smile that felt very fake.

"Time to go home, everyone!"

Venus gave quick hugs to the three girls and showed them out of the house, asking them if they felt good enough to Disapparate back to their homes, though they all had drank less than her. As she made her way back towards the living room, she heard James's voice, as the door had been left ajar.

"She's really annoyed, guys. I'll help her clean up and everything. I'll sleep here tonight, I think she doesn't want to be alone. Not in the same bed, Sirius, don't get your knickers in a twist."

"I don't care if you -"

Sirius trailed off as Venus opened the door and came in.

"You know the way out," Venus said coolly.

Remus took hesitant steps towards her, and he looked so sorry that Venus managed a smile.

"Night, Remus."

"Goodnight," Remus said, looking slightly relieved. "See you soon."

Remus left the room, hovering near the open door. He stood in the dark corridor, looking at Sirius, who still hadn't moved from the armchair at the opposite end of the room.

"I'm alright, by the way, thanks for asking!" Sirius said in a strange, shrill voice, gesturing to his face.

"Well, that wouldn't have happened if you'd been able to hold your tongue!" Venus said in a heated voice.

"You're the one who used your tongue first tonight."

No one laughed, although the corners of James's mouth were twitching, and Sirius wore a defiant smirk. Venus was tapping her foot on the floor faster and faster.

"You made sure to make me regret that," Venus said. "Now come on, off you go."

"Come on, Padfoot," Remus said gently.

Sirius finally stood up and staggered across the room, glancing at her through bloodshot eyes as he passed her by. He looked more drunk than Venus had realised. She frowned as she watched him disappear around the corner that led to the front door. She grabbed Remus's arm as Remus started following suit.

"Make sure he gets home okay?" Venus whispered.

"Of course," Remus said.

Venus and James decided that the cleaning up would wait until morning. They went upstairs, and used their wands to inflate the mattress and make the bed. For a while, they chatted in the faint light of Venus's bedside lamp, and Venus smiled at the sight of James, who had grown up so much since the last time he had used the mattress that he now barely fit on it.

"It's weird, having you here brings me back to when we were kids, whereas if everything had gone to plan, I'd probably be having sex with Caradoc right now. He told me he wanted to -"

"Lalalalala," James said loudly, covering his ears with his hands. "Cannot hear you."

Venus laughed and gestured at him that he could uncover his ears.

"Sorry," James said. "But it's a bit like you're my sister, I don't want to hear about you doing - well, sex and stuff with blokes. I'm happy if you're happy, but I don't need to imagine the details."

"Fair enough," Venus said, chuckling again at the look on James's face. "I hadn't realised."

"So, Caradoc, huh? 'You're not my boyfriend', that was a good one!"

Venus shrugged. She regretted saying that, especially in front of everyone, but the way Caradoc had behaved during the night, calling her pet names and then saying he was her boyfriend, didn't fit with what they had told each other the previous time they had met, or even with the way Caradoc had behaved before she had been on a ride with Sirius. She suspected most of what happened had to do with some misplaced rivalry and jealousy the two of them had going on.

"Well, it's not going to happen now, is it? If he knew me better, he would have known he shouldn't start a fight in my house, at my birthday party."

"Yeah, that, and you're pissed off that he damaged Sirius's pretty face."

James grinned as Venus rolled her eyes, though she inwardly admitted that he may have a point.

" _Your_ pretty face will get damaged if you continue talking about him," Venus said, glaring at James and pointing at him threateningly.

James squinted at her. He was not wearing his glasses, and he looked adorably vulnerable.

"You know, that might be scary if you didn't look like a giant blur to me right now. Come on, we're both tired, let's just go to sleep, okay?"

They said goodnight and as soon as Venus closed her eyes, she wondered what had been her biggest mistakes tonight: kissing Sirius, or immediately implying that it meant nothing. Fortunately, she was so tired that she fell into a dreamless sleep before James did, and was therefore spared her friend's alcohol-induced snoring.

* * *

It was the last Saturday evening before their seventh and last year at Hogwarts would start, and the Marauders were at James's house. They had just finished a very enjoyable dinner. Remus and Peter had congratulated Mrs Potter on her cooking skills, and James's parents had then retreated to the terrace outside to enjoy the summer evening, leaving the living room for them to use. Remus was asking Peter about the holidays Peter and his parents had taken in Greece earlier in the summer. James was lounging on the couch, looking like he was only half following that conversation. Sirius decided to take that opportunity to ask James about something that had been bothering him since Venus's birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Sirius pulled James's feet up in the air, sat down lazily on the couch and let James's feet fall on his lap.

"Prongs, do you often think about Evans even when you haven't seen her for a while?"

James looked up at Sirius, frowning, and scratched his head.

"Yeah, of course. I wish I didn't, but I do. It's like she's in my head."

It was the answer Sirius had been dreading. Ever since the party, the amazing kiss with Venus and the subsequent mess-up, he had found himself thinking about her a lot, even if he had not seen her since. That was the first time thoughts of a girl kept tugging at his sleeves, begging for his attention, day and night. Usually, he never had much space in his head for girls, other than fleeting images that were quickly replaced with other thoughts that he usually considered more important.

"But, that _sucks_ ," Sirius said, in a horrified tone.

James laughed and gently kicked Sirius's leg with his foot.

"Yeah, it does. But it also doesn't, in a way. I don't know how to explain it. Why are you asking, anyway?"

"No reason," Sirius said.

There was a silence, and Sirius realised Peter and Remus had stopped talking and were now looking at them. James stared at Sirius, his eyes insistent. Sirius looked away and smiled at Remus and Peter.

"Why don't we do something different tonight? I was thinking, we could go to a Muggle bar and pretend to be Muggles, that would be good fun, wouldn't it?"

"Awesome," Peter said.

Sirius looked back at James, who wordlessly made him understand he wouldn't get away with avoiding the question later.

"Good idea," James said. "I could do with something stronger than a Butterbeer."

The three of them turned to Remus, who shrugged.

"Is there any way for me to say no?" Remus said in a mock tired tone, but he was smiling.

And so, one hour later, they found themselves inside a bar in Camden, with loud rock music and a crowd of excited young people. They had borrowed some Muggle money from James's parents, who kept some at home for cases when they had to go into the Muggle world. Sirius had managed to get them four pints of beer, having charmed his way out of giving Muggle ID to the pretty barmaid. By the time they had exhausted all their Muggle jokes and laughed at the many strange things and people around them, their glasses were empty.

"Look, over there," James said, gesturing towards a group of four girls, who were staring at them and giggling.

The girls looked only slightly older than them, twenty years old at the most. One of them, who had curly dark hair, was shaking her head at her friends, but she was smiling. They were standing around a high wooden table.

"We should go and talk to them," James said.

"Dibs on the one on the left," Sirius said.

Remus rolled his eyes, presumably over the use of the word "dibs" in that particular context. The girl on the left was the tallest, and had long dark hair.

"Oh, Padfoot, you certainly do have a type," James said, smiling fondly, and then snickered.

Remus and Peter joined in the obnoxious sniggering. Sirius pouted and looked at the girls thoughtfully.

"Fine, the blonde one would do as well," Sirius said.

Remus rolled his eyes again. Sirius stood up and swaggered to the group of girls, who had abruptly stopped talking and were looking at him, wearing identical broad smiles.

"Took you long enough to come over here," said the blonde girl.

"We were starting to think you guys were waiting for your girlfriends or something," said the tall girl, smirking.

"Oh no, no girlfriends," Sirius said. "I would have come here earlier, but my friends are shy and told me not to go."

Sirius smiled as the girls curiously peered at James, Remus and Peter.

"Then why don't you tell your shy friends to join us? We were just going to order shots," said the blonde girl.

Sirius gestured at his friends to come over. He saw Remus hesitate for a few seconds, and then follow. The fourth girl, who had not spoken yet, went to order the drinks.

"You _are_ all of age, right?" said the girl with the curly hair, rolling the r's, as James, Peter and Remus joined them.

"Don't worry about that, Maria!" said the blonde girl, laughing. "It's England, we're in a bar, people drink, nobody cares!"

"She's foreign," said the tall girl, by way of explanation.

Maria looked slightly uncomfortable, and James smiled at her reassuringly.

"Don't worry, we're all over seventeen," James said.

" _Eighteen_ , you mean," Remus said quickly.

"Right," James said. "Maria, that's a lovely name. Where are you from?"

"I'm from Spain," Maria said, her dark eyes shimmering. "I'm an exchange student."

"That sounds great," Sirius said, wondering what the hell an exchange student was. "And what are your names?"

The blonde was called Amanda, and the tall brunette Elizabeth. As the boys introduced themselves, the fourth girl came back to the table with a tray full of small glasses. She was short and slightly plump, and had striking blue eyes below a brown-haired long fringe.

"And that's Linda," said Elizabeth. "We're just taking Maria out, she's only been in London for three days and we're all sharing a flat. We're starting Uni again in two weeks, making the most of it."

"That's nice," James said, no doubt wondering what on Earth a Uni was.

"Are you lads going to Uni, too?" Linda asked.

She had a strong Northern accent. Sirius, James and Peter turned to Remus as one. He was the only one that could possibly know about Muggle things.

"Er, yeah," Remus said. "We're starting next month, our first year."

"Which University?" Elizabeth asked.

"Up in Scotland," Remus said vaguely.

Elizabeth looked rather disappointed. Sirius was still lost and hoping the conversation would steer back towards something normal.

"Remus and Sirius," Maria said thoughtfully. "Are these names common in England?"

"No," Remus said quickly, before any of the girls could say anything. "Our parents have weird tastes for names. My dad's a history teacher, and Sirius's -"

"Remus, I'm sure these lovely girls don't care about my dad," Sirius interrupted. "Right, Amanda?"

Amanda flashed him a smile, obviously happy he had singled her out.

"I thought that was interesting," Elizabeth said, grinning at Remus. "Are you going to study history as well?"

"Come on, those shots won't drink themselves," Amanda said. "Bottom's up, everyone."

Sirius picked up his glass. It was full of a clear liquid that he was quite sure he had never tried before. He saw Maria visibily wince as she drank hers, and once he had drank as well, he couldn't really blame her. That didn't taste like anything remotely agreeable. Peter looked like he was going to be sick. Sirius turned up his nose as he put his glass down on the table.

"What's the matter, pretty boy, never had vodka before?" Amanda said, teasingly.

"I'm more of a whiskey guy," Sirius said.

At least, he was pretty sure Muggles drank whiskey as well. Judging by Amanda's expression, it seemed he had been correct.

"How did you get those scars?" Elizabeth asked, frowning, as she examined Remus's face in the dim light of the bar.

"I'm a werewolf," Remus said, deadpan.

The four girls laughed. Elizabeth stood even closer to Remus, and ran a hand through her long black hair as she smiled at him. Peter shuffled uneasily from foot to foot, looking at James and Sirius as if checking that the situation was still in control.

"English humour, I like it," Maria said, nodding, and then noticed James was looking left out. "Yames, you are funny, too."

It seemed she couldn't pronounced the sound "jay". Sirius snorted, but, judging by his besotted smile, James seemed to find his new name particularly endearing. It was true that Maria was pretty, and if James could forget for a few minutes about Lily, then Sirius was going to do everything he could to help him. Suddenly, the rock music stopped and a different, dramatic music replaced it. Several people cheered. Linda and Elizabeth gasped, and started singing along and pretending to duel. Amanda watched them, giggling.

"Lizzie doesn't look like it, but she's a bit of a nerd," Amanda said.

"Ah, that's probably why she likes Remus, then. He's a bit of a nerd, too," Sirius said.

"Oh, do you like Star Wars as well?" Amanda said, turning to Remus.

Remus smiled non-committally. Sirius shrugged and held up his hand in a 'no idea what this is' gesture behind Amanda's back. Elizabeth and Linda resumed their positions next to Remus and Peter respectively, and Amanda turned her attention back to Sirius, stroking his arm appreciatively.

"You look like you work out," Amanda said. "Which sport do you do?"

"Quid -"

But then Sirius remembered Muggles didn't know about Quidditch, and stopped mid-word. He glanced at Remus for support, but Remus was already in deep conversation with Elizabeth and didn't look at him. Fortunately, Sirius had taken some Muggle studies classes, even if he had given them up after his third year, and he blurted out the only name of Muggle sport he could remember.

"Football, mostly."

At the mention of football, Amanda's face lit up and she started going on about her favourite team and going to the stadium to see them play, and watching games on TV with her brother. Sirius saw James lead Maria to the dancefloor and start showing off his dancing skills. Soon after, Elizabeth dragged Remus to the dancefloor. The music changed to a very fast-paced song, and Amanda suddenly stopped talking about football.

"I love this song!" Amanda exclaimed. "Wanna dance?"

Sirius didn't like dancing at all. It was probably the only activity in his life during which he felt awkward and suspected that he didn't look very good doing it. However, he did like Amanda. He also saw that James and Maria were now kissing, and thought that it wouldn't hurt to accept Amanda's request. He took her outstretched hand and glanced at Peter, who seemed actually happy to be left alone with Linda. Peter smiled at him, and Sirius and Amanda went to join the others. Several minutes later, as Amanda and Sirius were kissing, she suddenly pulled away.

"Bathroom break," Amanda said, panting. "Be right back."

Amanda turned and gestured at Elizabeth, who was, to Sirius's surprise, in Remus's arms. Elizabeth said something in Remus's ear, and then the two girls made their way towards the other end of the room. Sirius walked towards where Remus stood, smiling broadly.

"Way to go, Moony," Sirius said cheerfully, clapping Remus on the back. "Coming here tonight was a great idea indeed. Remind me who that idea came from again?"

Remus rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling.

"I told you you just needed a girl to snog you senseless. Well, you and Yames as well," Sirius said. "You should listen to Sirius the Wise, sometimes. I was born in the _fifties_ , you know."

Remus laughed.

"You're barely four months older than me, Padfoot. Don't make it sound like you're older and wiser."

For a while they both looked at James, who was making Maria spin in a risky looking dance move. Remus sighed.

"Well, you do have a point, I guess," Remus said. "It's just nice to be with a girl who thinks me being a werewolf can only be a joke. Even though I do feel kind of guilty about that."

Sirius's smile faded and he grabbed Remus's shoulders, staring at him earnestly.

"Don't. Just enjoy the moment, Moony. You deserve a break."

Remus nodded and glanced at the corner of the room where Peter and Linda were still talking by the table. Looking reassured that Peter was also enjoying himself, Remus released himself from Sirius's grip just as they saw that the two girls were back.

"Oh, look at them hugging, so cute," Amanda said. "Can I interest you in a threesome, Remus?"

Remus's face and neck turned a deep shade of red as Amanda giggled.

"Back off, Amanda, he's mine," Elizabeth said, smiling, making a great show of pulling Remus close to her. "She was kidding, by the way."

Remus looked flabbergasted that two girls were fighting for him, even as a joke. Sirius laughed and turned to Amanda, as she gently tapped his chest to grab his attention.

"Sirius, I hope you'll believe me when I say I don't usually ask this to a bloke I've just met, but well, you're pretty amazing. The bar's closing in fifteen minutes, do you want to go to my place after that?"

Sirius didn't think about it for too long. He decided that his persistent thoughts about Venus lately called for drastic actions to help him get rid of them. The only person that could prevent him from saying no right now was his best friend, who was currently busy having a snogging session of his own. If James minded for some reason, or had other plans for them, then Sirius wouldn't think twice and he would just go back to the Potters' with his friends. Although Sirius had bought his own place over the last Christmas holidays, he still enjoyed spending time at the Potters'.

"I'd say yes," Sirius said. "But I just need to see how to do tomorrow morning, because I'm supposed to stay at James's tonight, and he lives quite far. How about I check with him later?"

A few minutes later, like Amanda had said, the lights were turned on and the music turned off. Sirius had to practically drag his friends off the girls to get James, Remus and Peter together.

"I have an announcement," Sirius said. "Or rather, a question. Prongs, what's the plan now?"

"Going home?" James said, yawning.

"And tomorrow morning? Anything particular planned, or just sleep until late?"

"I dunno," James said, frowning. "Why?"

"It's possible I may skip breakfast, and be back later," Sirius said, smiling. "If you don't mind. Amanda's invited me to her place."

"Oh," James said, surprised, and then he laughed. "Go on, then, Padfoot, take one for the team."

When the four girls joined them, James, Peter and Remus started saying goodbye to them. Amanda looked at Sirius, frowning.

"You're not escaping, are you?" Amanda asked.

"No, don't worry," Sirius said, with a cocky smile. "I'm coming with you."

Amanda grinned and kissed him.

"We don't live too far from here, we'll all share a taxi, if that's OK with you?"

"A taxi?" Sirius repeated, frowning.

He knew about buses and trains, and had heard about cars and that underground train the Muggles called "the Tube", but he had never heard of taxis.

"You're a bit weird," Amanda said, fondly. "But you're so good-looking that it doesn't matter. Wait, girls, Sirius is coming with us!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

On the first day of September, Lily felt, for the first time in years, more nervous than excited. There were two reasons for this. One: she was going to see James again, after having spent most of the summer thinking of him. Two: she had been appointed Head Girl, and while she was very happy and proud, she also felt terrified. Being a Muggle-born Head Girl was not going to be easy.

"Over here, Lily!"

Lily saw Venus wave at her from further up the platform. Lily hugged her parents goodbye and strode towards Venus, her Head Girl badge displayed on her denim jacket. Venus's eyes widened as she saw it.

"Awesome!" Venus said. "You didn't tell me! Well, I'm proud of you, Little Red. You've come a long way."

Lily smiled and thanked her. As they walked towards the train, they met James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. Venus had her hair cut the previous week. While it used to be very long, it was now sitting just above her shoulders, only slightly longer than Sirius's. James raised his eyebrows at Venus when he saw her and had a typical brotherly reaction: mockery.

"Twins!" James said, pointing from Sirius to Venus and sniggering.

"Very funny, James," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well, I think it looks nice," Remus said, smiling.

"Thank _you_ , Remus," Venus said.

Lily was going to say that she also thought it looked nice, when her eyes caught a glimpse of a badge on James's t-shirt. James saw her gaping at it, and he stroked the badge with slightly shaking fingers.

"Oh, yeah, that old thing," James said quietly.

"JP! Head Boy!" Venus exclaimed.

While Venus congratulated James profusely, Lily's brain refused to process the information. Her first reaction was that it did not make any sense. She was in a state of shock, and barely noticed when Venus grabbed her arm and dragged her into the train and into a compartment where Anna, Callie and Mary were sitting, chatting excitedly about their holidays. After a while, she shook herself out her trance and started listing reasons why Dumbledore maybe wasn't totally out of his mind when he appointed James. She had already come up with twelve reasons by the time James opened their compartment door and stepped in.

"Lily? I think we'd better go and see the Prefects," James said, walking on eggshells.

Lily felt a pang of annoyance that James Potter of all people had to remind her of her responsibilities. But she followed James, and by the time the train arrived to Hogwarts, she was impressed by James's leadership and determination. She even thought that he might make a better head student than her. She had seen the way the Prefects had readily submitted to his natural authority. Maybe this was the little push from fate - or rather, from Dumbledore - that she needed to reassure herself that yes, she and James Potter made sense together.

* * *

At the end of the first Transfiguration lesson, Professor McGonagall announced that she would randomly assign pairs of students to complete an assignment together, an assignment which would probably take them months and count towards their NEWT grade. Peter was paired up with Anna, and Remus with Cassandra Gamp from Slytherin, a tall and big-boned girl with a protruding chin. Remus gave a small shudder when McGonagall announced this. Further names were picked up while James clapped Remus on the back.

"She's going to eat you alive, Moony," James said earnestly.

"She isn't as bad as she looks," Peter muttered. "You'll be fine. I think."

"Thanks, guys," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "I'm totally reassured now."

"James Potter and Lily Evans," McGonagall said.

James looked startled for a moment, and then walked dizzily towards McGonagall to collect the assignment. He then stood next to Lily, smiling widely.

"Calliope Turner and Severus Snape."

Callie looked slightly sick. Snape grabbed the piece of parchment from McGonagall, refusing to even look at Callie. Mary was paired up with a girl from Ravenclaw. Before McGonagall opened her mouth again, Sirius knew what she was going to say; he knew who were the last two names.

"Venusta Vance and Sirius Black."

Venus quickly went to pick up the assignment before he could even move. She was stony faced and pointedly avoided looking at him.

"Very well, you may go, now. And remember to get started on your assignment soon, you will need plenty of time to complete it. You will be marked as a team; it is very important to have full collaboration, otherwise neither of the two will pass."

The students left the room chatting, complaining or rejoicing about who they had been paired up with. Sirius saw that Venus had not moved, and decided to hang back and hover near the door.

"Professor," Venus said. "Is there any way you could make an exception and pair me with somebody else instead?"

McGonagall adjusted her glasses, pursing her lips.

"No, Miss Vance. It wouldn't be fair to anyone else. Then everybody would come to me and ask me to make some change or other. What is wrong with Mr Black?"

There was a short silence, during which McGonagall glanced at Sirius, who pretended not to be listening.

"Apart from the obvious, of course," McGonagall added, with the faintest hint of a smile.

But Venus was not smiling.

"Please, Professor," Venus said, her voice rising with urgency, "I really want to get good grades this year, so I can't be with him -"

"Now, I would be the first person to recognise Mr Black's faults," McGonagall interrupted. "But even I have to admit he is one of the best in your year at Transfiguration."

It was strange to hear McGonagall sing his praises. Venus shook her head.

"It's not what I meant," Venus said. "Obviously, I know he's - it's not that. We have disagreements. It's personal."

"What you get up to outside of my classroom is none of my business."

"No, Professor, I know that if we have to study together it will be a disaster."

"You and Mr Black have more in common than you care to admit, Miss Vance. Starting with a strong penchant for drama. I am sure you will be perfectly fine."

McGonagall dismissed Venus with a curt nod, returning to her papers. Venus huffed and stormed out of the classroom.

"Come on, it's not that bad," Sirius said, following her, trying not to sound too aggrieved. "You could have been with Snape!"

Venus inwardly admitted he had a point. She could think of little worse than having to spend time alone with Severus Snape.

"I don't want to spend hours alone with you," Venus said.

It was the first time they were having a proper conversation ever since they had arrived in Hogwarts. Venus found it much easier to not speak to him at all. That allowed her to reduce the time she spent thinking about him and freaking out about what that meant and whether or not they should act upon it, while the world outside seemed to collapse.

"Look, you heard McGonagall. There's no changing teams, so we'll just have to deal with it."

"I guess we could try and work on it separately as much as possible," Venus said.

Sirius sniffed, and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"You're being ridiculous," Sirius said.

They stopped walking.

"Sirius, you confuse me. I don't have time to feel confused. I told myself that this year I'll make more efforts on homework. Try to work out what I'm going to do after Hogwarts. And still concentrate on Quidditch as well, of course. So, no distractions. No boys."

Venus resumed walking, Sirius on her heels. Venus was seriously thinking of joining the group her father had told her about over the summer, as soon as she left Hogwarts. She knew her friends wanted to do the same. And it did not make much sense to her to get so close to someone in a time when they would soon be risking their lives.

"No boys?"

"At least for a while," Venus said, nodding.

"How long's a while?"

"I don't know, it's not like I have a deadline. It's just, well, I had my fair share of scenes over the summer, I don't want to make things more complicated than they already are."

"I don't see the link with us having to study together."

They walked in silence for a while. A couple more staircases and they would reach the Charms classroom.

"Sirius, this is not going to work and you know it. I know it. McGonagall knows it. Most of the school probably knows it, since somehow most people seem to know about what happened at my birthday party. I'm - it's scary. Liking you. I don't want to like you too much, it's… It's freaking me out."

Sirius had to admit that he knew exactly what she was talking about, as he felt the same way. He had not really thought that he would feel this way about a girl, at least not until he was older. It was reassuring to know that Venus felt the same and that at least she was not going to be the one putting any pressure on him.

"I know what you mean," Sirius said.

"You do?"

Venus raised her eyebrows, clearly thinking she had been rambling and not expecting him to actually understand.

"Yeah, I feel the same."

"Oh," Venus sighed of relief. "Good. Then you see why maybe it's better if we keep our distances for a while."

"I guess."

Venus looked straight ahead as she walked, her gaze fixed on the door to the classroom, at the end of the corridor.

"There's one thing that's nice about liking you, though," Venus said, still gazing at the door thoughtfully. "I'm not too worried you fancy me just because of how I look. I mean, I'm sure it must be the same for you, lots of girls probably fancy you mostly because of your looks. You must know how it feels to -"

"Wait a minute," Sirius said, grabbing her wrist so that she faced him. "Does it mean that you think I'm handsome?"

Venus sighed and looked at him with a small smile, as if he was a bit dim-witted.

"Sirius, you're bloody drop-dead gorgeous."

Venus walked away and entered the classroom before Sirius could say anything.

* * *

Remus was standing near the window, looking back and forth between the bright blue sky outside and the silent room. The dormitory looked like an abandoned battle scene. Peter's bed looked like it had remainders of food on it, which would not be the first time. Brody's area, usually the cleanest and most orderly after Remus's, was not up to Brody's usual standards. A couple of books lay open on top of the tangled sheets. This was, however, nothing compared to the state of James's and Sirius's beds. As per usual, they were so messy that Remus didn't even want to look at them. At some point during their fourth year, he had decided that he had to stop tidying up after Sirius and James, for their sake as much as his. Sirius, who was lying down on his bed, on top of what looked like a jumper and a few pairs of trousers, suddenly stirred and turned towards Remus.

"Alright, Moony?" Sirius muttered, his voice still thick from sleep.

Remus smiled. He wondered if all this would ever stop feeling so familiar, after they left Hogwarts and stopped living together. A small part of him couldn't help but be afraid that they would all grow apart after leaving. Would James and Sirius be sharing a flat, like they had mentioned a few times in the past? Remus hoped he would not have to go back living with his father. Although he loved his father dearly, the thought of having to live there, without his friends, just made him sad and nostalgic. Ten years, thirty years from now, would he forget how Peter took his tea (strong, no milk, two sugars)? How so very difficult it was to wake up Sirius in the morning? How James half the time forgot his glasses in the bathroom at night and had to stumble out of the room in the morning, arms outstrechted, blind as a bat?

"You never take naps," Remus said. "What's got into you?"

It occurred to Remus that he knew those boys' habits just as well, if not better, as his own. And he knew it was the same for them. He didn't think anybody else would ever know him as well as his three best friends did. He had been so lucky to find them or rather, so lucky that they had found him. He knew his apprehensive, sickly eleven-year-old self had not been the one to take the first step. James had, of course. Sirius had been a bit haughty and distant; Remus could still remember feeling impressed by him the first time he had stepped in their dormitory, and not knowing if it was entirely in a good way. But James had smiled at him, held out his hand for Remus to shake, and the knot in the pit of Remus's stomach had loosened.

"'M tired," Sirius said, and closed his eyes again.

Remus turned back to the window and stared at the grounds. He could see a small group of children, who looked young enough to be eleven or twelve, sitting together on the grass in a circle. How many times had he, James, Peter and Sirius done this over the years? There were just too many afternoons to count. Remus jumped slightly at the sound of the door opening.

"What are you up to?" James asked.

The Quidditch try-outs had kept James busy for the rest of the day thus far, and Remus had not seen him for a while. He noticed by the way James swaggered towards Sirius's bed that James was in a good mood.

"He's just Remusing," Sirius said to James.

Remus raised his eyebrows. James and Sirius were now sitting side by side on Sirius's bed. Sirius still looked a bit groggy, but sounded more like his usual self.

"Seriously? You've created a word?"

"Oh, yeah," Sirius said. "You know, for the two thirds of every day that you spend thinking, assuming, pondering, daydreaming -"

"Conceiving, worrying, envisioning, considering -" James continued.

"OK, got it," Remus interrupted, rolling his eyes.

"Re _musing_."

James and Sirius both smiled at Remus, looking very pleased with themselves.

"What is it, Moony? You're not freaking out 'cause it's our last year here, are you?" James said, narrowing his eyes.

"You know we're not letting you anywhere out of our sight after we leave this place, right?" Sirius said.

Remus was no longer surprised when once in a while, Sirius and James proved to be unexpectedly perspicacious.

"Of course not. 'Cause we love you too much, you idiot," James said, smiling affectionately.

Remus smiled, feeling a warm wave of relief wash over him.

"Even when you'll be busy ruling the world plus caring for two little Prongsies?" Remus said.

"Even then," James said. "And I'll probably want at least three kids, by the way, so prepare yourselves for some serious godfathering."

James wasn't afraid of telling people he loved them, or of sharing his life plans and goals, which he seemed to have already worked out. James was wonderful in that way, and Remus doubted he would have been anything like him even if he had not been bitten as a child.

"I'll do my best," Sirius said. "Though I'll probably be busy with my third wife by then. Either that, or my third motorbike, I haven't decided yet."

Sirius lay down on the bed again and James looked at him thoughtfully, letting the silence stretch a while. Sirius had a way of diffusing situations with humour. Remus had stopped counting the times Sirius had made them laugh until their stomachs hurt.

"By the way, Padfoot," James said. "I met Venus in the common room just now, she seemed pretty pissed off. Apparently she's just heard about that Muggle girl you met in the bar last month."

Sirius frowned.

"How did she even hear about that? I thought only we four knew about it," Sirius said.

James rolled his eyes.

"It seems Wormtail's been bragging to a few people about the girl he snogged in the bar. Apparently one thing led to another, and he also told Venus about what you were up to that night."

"I'm going to kill Wormtail," Sirius said through gritted teeth.

"Wait until tomorrow, please," James said mildly. "I have some homework to finish with him later today."

Sirius sniffed, clearly thinking he would not even dignify this with a retort. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and, as though automatically, James ran a hand through his own hair. Remus chuckled to himself.

"As if I needed another reason for her to be cross with me right now. Not that I did anything _wrong_ , anyway, but -"

Sirius shrugged, and didn't finish his sentence.

"Can you please try to be on speaking terms with her? Or at least, non-insulting terms? I'd like to keep a decent team spirit," James said.

"I'll do my best, Captain," Sirius said, looking at James. "For you."

"Good boy," James said, patting Sirius's head.

Remus smiled.

"You've noticed your, er, other personalities start showing even as humans, haven't you?"

"Yeah, Peter's ratting on what we do," Sirius said. "And I'm as ever, man's best and most loyal friend."

James laughed.

"That you are, Padfoot," James said. "I sometimes think you should just stay as a dog permanently."

"I guess I could," Sirius said, pretending to consider it. "But think of all the women, Prongs, I can't disappoint them!"

"I think womankind would probably be all the better for it," Remus said.

Sirius smiled brightly at Remus.

"Don't be jealous, Moony. Doesn't suit you."

"You know, it's not always easy for us to be standing next to the stunning looking bloke all the time," James said.

Sirius's cheeks turned slightly pink. Sirius's looks were not something the other boys had ever really discussed or even acknowledged, apart from them making fun of his hair.

"Ah, Prongs, don't make this weird," Sirius said.

"We can't ignore the obvious," James said, shrugging. "But as far as I'm concerned, as long as Lily doesn't fancy you, I don't care if all the other girls do."

James seemed to realise that he had gone a bit too far into romantic disclosure for Sirius not to tease him relentlessly. James avoided Sirius's eye and shrugged again, as if none of that really mattered to him in the first place.

"If I had a Galleon for every time a girl asked me if you were interested in her, I'd be rich," Remus said.

"Fortunately, you're such a nitwit with girls, and most of the time you don't even notice they like you," James said, smirking. "And when you do, you just screw things up. Which gives the rest of us a decent chance."

"I'm no more a nitwit than you are, James Potter," Sirius said, shoving James's thigh with his foot. "Just because Lily likes you now doesn't mean we can forget about the million times you made a fool of yourself in front of her. Although I am prepared to admit that Remus is definitely not a nitwit, and somehow seems to understand girls. Too bad he won't do anything with them."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"You should do something with your knowledge," James said, nodding.

"I can help you two idiots," Remus said. "Already have, actually. And fully intend to continue doing so."

"Thanks, but I'm happy being a nitwit," Sirius said. "Although, I'm kind of bored right now."

"Well, you could lounge there looking pretty, or you could sort out the mess around your beds," Remus said.

Sirius smiled, stretched and placed his hands behind the back of his neck.

"I can't be arsed. I'd rather lounge here looking pretty, Moony," Sirius said.

Sirius's eyes widened as he saw James stand up, walk towards his bed and start picking up pairs of socks lying on it.

"What the hell are you doing, Prongs?"

James didn't turn to Sirius to reply. He continued to pair the socks together and roll them. Remus watched James work, marvelling at the unusual sight. It would be impossible, Remus thought, for him to say which of his friends was his favourite, his best friend. He had bonded with Peter from the first day, as they both felt like outcasts, afraid of not really belonging there. Over the years, their friendship had built on the shared experience of being the least glamorous pair of Marauders. Remus had spent countless hours with Peter while James and Sirius were off in detention, playing Quidditch or strutting around the school. When the other two were not there, he felt Peter open up and dare to speak his mind. The rare times that Remus got to spend time alone with James, he realised that James had a way to make you feel special. Conversations with James always left him with a smile on his face and hope for the future. Everything always seemed so easy and natural wiht James. Sirius, by contrast, had been a piece of work. Remus had spent the better part of two years wondering if Sirius didn't secretly want him and Peter out of the group. But then he had cracked Sirius's shell, and then the haughtiness and aloof attitude were gone. Them becoming Animagus had brought Sirius closer to him. Since then, he and Sirius shared an almost animalistic bond. It was as if the wolf in him saw Sirius and possessively thought 'that's _my_ friend', as if they were two of a kind.

"I don't know, I guess I'd better start being less messy, just on the off chance that Lily'll come up here at some point," James said.

Sirius winced and wrinkled his nose, managing to look both disgusted and horrified.

"Moony, have you seen James's balls? He seems to have lost them."

"Ha ha," James said. "Very funny, Padfoot."

"This is all your doing," Sirius said, pointing towards Remus.

Remus shook his head, smiling slightly.

"I wish I could take the credit," Remus said. "But it's been six years I'm trying to get you lot to tidy up, with no success at all. I'm afraid only Lily could be motivation enough for Prongs."

Sirius rolled over to face the door, turning his back to his friends.

"You're no fun, Head Boy," Sirius muttered.

"Head Boy's not an insult, you know," James said, amused.

Predictably, Sirius had been horrified that James had been made Head Boy. After sulking for a couple of days, Sirius had declared that he was going to ignore that reality and just carry on as usual, as if his best friend had not just become the biggest dork in Hogwarts.

"Well, it is now," Sirius said.

James hesitated only for a moment, and then followed his instincts and years of habit and threw his pillow at Sirius. Memories of epic pillow fights over the years hit Remus like a slap in the face. For one second, he could see the angular faces and thin, boyish bodies of thirteen-year-old Sirius and James, instead of the two fully grown young men in front of him.

"I'll miss this," Remus said quietly, to no one in particular.

"Stop Remusing and come here," Sirius said, as he held James's pillow up above his head, preparing to throw it. "I need your help for counter attack. The pack is calling for you, Moony!"

"Sirius, I've told you not to use that word," Remus said, walking towards them with his pillow hidden behind his back. "We're two, that's hardly a pack."

"Not to mention, it's kind of weird," James said, dodging the pillow Sirius had just thrown in his general direction.

"Yeah, but we _are_ a pack, aren't we?" Sirius said, grinning at Remus from above James's head.

"You bet we are," Remus said, smiling back at Sirius, and he mercilessly attacked James from behind.

* * *

Sophie Gardiner arrived in the changing rooms early for her first ever Quidditch practice, determined to make a good first impression. She thought she could do with a few minutes alone to calm her nerves before everybody else arrived. But when she opened the door, she found that it was not empty. Sirius Black and Venusta Vance were standing either side of James Potter and looking in opposite directions. The three of them were already wearing their red and gold Quidditch robes.

"So I said –" James was saying, and trailed off as he saw her. "Ah, Gardiner, you're in early. That's good."

James smiled at her. Sophie walked towards them and looked up at the three handsome faces, feeling her cheeks go warm and pink. She was under 5 foot 3, and they all towered over her. She had never spoken to Sirius or Venus before, but she obviously knew who they were, and their reputations alone were enough to intimidate her. She had only had a handful of conversations with James, just before and after the try-outs, all of them strictly about Quidditch. Prankster extraordinaire, amazing Quidditch player and now Head Boy as well, James was decidedly as intimidating as his friends, if not more. But at least, James had put her at ease right away. She hoped the other two would do the same.

"Hi, I'm Sophie," Sophie said, extending her hand to Venus first.

"Venus. Welcome to the team," Venus said in a business-like tone, while giving her hand a surprisingly firm shake.

Sophie then turned to Sirius, feeling her heart beat a bit faster as she looked up into his grey eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Sophie," Sirius smiled as he shook her hand. "I'm Sirius."

"Good to have another lady on board, isn't it, V?" James said enthusiastically.

Venus emitted a non-committal grunt, her cat-like eyes fixed on Sophie. It did not look like Venus shared James's enthusiasm. Sophie was under the impression that Venus was assessing her, although she knew that Venus must have seen her perform during the try-outs. Sophie was much shorter than most Keepers, but she had a good athletic built, and she had been playing Quidditch with her older brothers for years. Since none of them wanted to be the Keeper, that was the position she had ended up with, but she had grown to enjoy it a lot and be pretty good at it, too. James had also told her that what had made the difference was her passion and motivation.

"You can change in there," Venus said briskly, gesturing to a door.

"Oh, OK, thanks," Sophie said.

Sophie felt what little self-confidence she felt evaporate, and the butterflies in her stomach go stronger. She went inside and changed, while the other three apparently remained silent, as she couldn't hear anything. When she came back, she saw that James was now standing in front of his friends, with his back turned to Sophie.

"Blimey, don't tell me you two are still not talking?" James said.

Although Sophie couldn't see his face, his annoyance was clearly perspiring through his voice.

"We _are_ talking," Venus said coolly, and then looked at Sirius. "See, I am talking to you, Sirius."

Sirius grinned, but it looked more like a wince, and the smile never reached his eyes.

"And I'm talking to you," Sirius said.

Sophie wondered if she should go back inside and pretend she wasn't done changing yet. The atmosphere seemed more tense than what she had expected.

"I don't think I've heard you exchange more than greetings in the three weeks we've been back here," James said. "Really, can't you –"

"Leave it, JP," Venus interrupted, glancing at Sophie.

Sophie blushed and turned away, not wanting them to think she was eavesdropping. James sighed.

"You two are doing my head in," James muttered.

The door opened and the rest of the team arrived. Sophie smiled at her friend Matthew, and was relieved to see that he looked quite nervous, too. Once everyone had changed, they all formed a circle around James, who then beckoned to Venus to join him.

"Due to other commitments this year, I'll need some help to manage the team, which is why I've asked Venus to act as co-Captain."

Lawrence, the frail looking Seeker, frowned.

"What does that mean exactly?" Lawrence asked.

"She'll be helping me with tactics and organising practices and all that, and whenever you have a question or a problem or something, you can go either to her or to me, same thing," James said.

Lawrence nodded.

"Any other questions?" James said.

Sirius, who so far had looked quite bored, raised his hand.

"I've got a question," Sirius said.

James tilted his head to the side, stared at Sirius for a moment as though considering whether or not to allow it, and then nodded.

"Go on," James said.

"Does it mean we'll get a double amount of Captain harassment, like having to get up at _eight_ on a weekend to practice, or having to eat vegetables or something? The usual pestering from you, plus from her as well?"

Venus spoke before James reacted.

"Well, for you it will be even more than double, since you're special."

James scowled at them both, but seemed to decide to continue as though nothing had happened.

"It's an unofficial role, yes, but it doesn't mean it's not an important one. Venus, we joined the team at the same time, and during these three years you've proven to be not only an excellent player, but also the most hard-working and passionate member of the team. Well done!"

Venus beamed at James, clearly happy and proud of taking on a more important role in the team. When Venus smiled, her whole face glowed and Sophie had no trouble seeing why she was considered one of the prettiest girls in the school. James, smiling broadly, pulled Venus into a one-arm hug. Broderick MacDougal started clapping, and everybody else joined in.

"Well deserved," Sirius said, and this time there was no trace of cheekiness or sarcasm in his voice.

Sirius gave Venus a bright smile that would have made Sophie swoon had it been directed at her, but Venus merely nodded at him and thanked him. Sophie wondered if it was because Venus was used to it or because she was good at hiding her emotions.

"And welcome to our new players," James said. "Gardiner and Hawkins. Welcome to the team, we're happy to have you on board. Remember, don't hesitate to come to me or Venus with anything, we're here to help. OK, before we go, I'd like to take a team picture."

James took a camera out from a bag and made it levitate with his wand, while everyone shuffled to stand in front of it.

"After all, it's my last year here, and last year being Captain," James said dejectedly.

"Oi, you're getting sentimental, darling," Venus said.

In spite of her teasing tone, Venus looked like she was fighting off nostalgia herself. James and Venus stood in the middle of the team, and James waved his wand about to take several pictures. Sophie stood at one edge of the group, with Matthew's arm sitting comfortably around her shoulder. Once they were done with the pictures, she noticed that Broderick had sat down on the bench, his head between his hands.

"Are you OK, Brody?" Venus asked, her brow furrowed as she sat down next to him.

Sophie saw Sirius roll his eyes, his jaw set, as he picked up his bat.

"Just a headache," Broderick said through gritted teeth.

Sirius tutted, his back turned to them, but both Venus and Broderick ignored him.

"D'you want to take a minute?" Venus said gently, patting his back. "You can join us if you feel better, and if not, maybe you should just go back to the castle and get some rest."

They exited the changing rooms, leaving Broderick behind. Sophie felt elated at the idea that in a few minutes she would be flying for the Gryffindor team. She trotted towards Venus and Matthew, who were walking ahead of everyone else.

"Venus," Sophie said, stopping her. "I just wanted to say, you're an inspiration for me. The fact that you've been the only girl in the team for three years and still managed to get to where you are, it's amazing. You played so well last year, you'd have deserved to win the Cup."

"Yeah, you and James are our Quidditch heroes," Matthew said.

"Oh, thank you, newbies," Venus said, smiling at them as she tied her hair in a short ponytail. "That's really nice of you. Well, if you work hard enough, I'm sure you'll both do great."

Venus resumed walking.

"She's not as cold as she seems at first," Sirius said to Sophie and Matthew, arriving from behind them. "She just takes a while to warm up, that's all."

Venus turned, and looked at Sirius slyly. Her behaviour had considerably softened since James's speech.

"I heard that," Venus said, and then shook her head. "Not sure why we trust you with a bat."

"OK, I'll behave, Mrs Captain," Sirius said, as they caught up with her. "I promise."

"Newbies, advice number 1: don't listen to Sirius Black," Venus said, and then smirked at Sophie. "Even if he's got the face of an angel."

Sirius winked at Sophie, who concentrated on not getting a burning sensation in her cheeks again.

"Well, I try not to take it too seriously, but I've been told I'm bloody drop-dead gorgeous," Sirius said, glancing at Venus and smiling.

Sophie was surprised to see that Venus actually looked flustered. James had caught up with them, too. Sophie turned to him, puzzled at how Sirius and Venus had gone from not talking at all and scowling at each other, to thinly veiled flirting.

"Are they always like that?" Sophie whispered.

James smiled.

"Oh, newbie, you haven't seen anything yet," James said.

* * *

"What a beautiful sunset!" Lily exclaimed as she caught a glimpse of the sky through a small window they were passing by.

James stopped walking and came to stand behind her, looking out of the window as well. The sky was a mix of pinks and blues. It was the last day of September and James and Lily had just spent a lot of time together to work on their Transfiguration assignment. It was already the third time they had done that. Lily had suggested that they start early, in order to have plenty of time to make progress before they got buried under other homework or even exams. She also had to admit to herself that it was just another reason to spend more time with James.

"I don't suppose -" Lily started, but trailed off.

What she was going to ask was going to sound so cheesy, her face was already reddening, and her brain had suddenly decided to stop it all before she made a fool of herself.

"Yes?" James prompted.

"I don't suppose you'd like to go outside and watch it?" Lily asked in a small voice, forcing herself to stop staring at the window and to dare look at James instead.

James's cheeks and ears actually turned pink, and his flabbergasted expression was soon replaced with a smile.

"That would be nice, actually," James said.

Lily wondered how many seventeen year old boys would react like this and do that with a girl they weren't even dating. The more time she spent with James, the more surprises she got. One of them was discovering how brilliant he was at Transfiguration.

"Let's go, then," Lily said, smiling. "We don't have much time before it sets."

Lily started going left, but James grabbed her by the hand and pulled her in the opposite direction.

"I know a faster way out," James said.

Of course he did; Lily had once heard that James and his friends knew Hogwarts inside out, even better than Filch himself. James didn't let go of her hand as they sped along corridors and down stairs. Indeed, they quickly got to an exit and walked into the fresh evening air. James removed his robes and placed them on the grass, sitting down on them and gesturing at Lily to do the same. Lily sat down next to him and they both looked up at the sky, which was now hovering between pink and purple.

"This is awfully romantic, isn't it?" Lily said, with a self-conscious snort.

"Well, I think so, actually. But then Sirius always says I'm a sappy old sod. I can't say anything like that, or I'll never hear the end of it."

Lily smirked. James sported an adorable pout, and she realised that she stood no chance; she was going to have to give in to her urge to kiss him.

"Well, I'm not Sirius, am I?" Lily said.

"No, definitely not," James said. "No matter what he likes to think, he's not half as beautiful as you."

Lily grinned. Before she could talk herself out of it, she kissed James. He startled slightly, and then started kissing her back. Lily closed her eyes, and opened them only when she no longer felt James's lips on hers.

"Just to clarify," James croaked. "I'm not really clever when it comes to you, but that does mean you don't hate me anymore, right?"

Lily chuckled and nodded.

"Yes," Lily said. "Yes, that's definitely what it means. I like you, James. A lot."

"Good," James said. "That's very - er, good."

"And I thought you were a smooth-talker, Potter," Lily said.

"I'm hoping you'll do all the smooth talking," James said.

Lily noticed the use of the future tense, and that made her consider the following months with more gusto that she would have thought possible before the summer.

"I'll do my best," Lily said, and she kissed him again.

"After all, you've got classic lines, like 'I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid'. That one's definitely a crowd pleaser."

Lily was surprised he remembered her exact words over a year later. That summer day now seemed like it had happened in another life.

"Sorry," Lily said, cringing. "That wasn't exactly subtle."

"Lily," James said, grabbing her hand and looking into her eyes. "I wasn't exactly subtle myself. I deserved it, to be honest. I was a bit of a moron."

They watched the sun disappear, and decided they had better go back indoors, as the temperature was getting a bit chilly. By the time Lily entered the common room, with James on her heels, it was full. Students were sitting in small groups or standing as there were not enough seats, some of them studying, some of them chatting more or less loudly. James headed straight for Sirius and Peter, who were standing near a window. Sirius looked quite bored and, from what Lily understood although she was out of earshot, seemed to barely acknowledge James's arrival. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled to herself. It was actually quite funny to make Sirius Black jealous. And she also found it endearing how close James and Sirius were, even if she used to think it was the most explosive and idiotic friendship she had ever seen. Tearing her eyes away from the boys, Lily saw Venus and Remus sitting on a small couch, near a large group of fifth years who were revising intently. Lily made her way over to them. Venus and Remus looked up from their Defence Against the Dark Arts essays.

"Hello, Lily. Done with your Head Girl duties?" Remus said, with the faintest hint of a smile.

Venus shuffled closer to Remus to leave space for Lily.

"Yeah, all done for today," Lily said, sitting down. "I need to start on that essay myself."

Lily grabbed the textbook Remus handed to her and started reading, but after a couple of minutes she realised that none of the words had sunk in. She kept thinking about James and the way his lips had felt on hers. She felt warm and giddy, as though she could hardly remember her own name. She looked up from the book and across the room she caught James's eyes. James smiled at her, and Lily smiled back, enjoying their shared secret. For now, only he and she knew they had just kissed, and she had never felt so close to him before. Lily looked down again at the book, the words dancing in front of her. She could not concentrate, but she found that actually, she really didn't mind.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

James was wearing a hooded black cloak and walking along a dark corridor, along with other hooded figures, whispering to each other. James entered the room along with them, careful to keep his face hidden. One of the tall hooded figures, wearing a green scarf, stood in front of everyone and spoke.

"Welcome the Chair of our society, Severus Snape."

James's insides froze as people clapped and Snape went to stand next to the hooded man. Snape looked right at James and sneered. James's hand tightened in a fist and he reached for his wand…

James awoke with a start. It took him a few seconds to understand that this had been just a dream. His forehead was sweaty and his heart was pounding loudly. He took a deep breath and sat on his bed, his vision adjusting to the near darkness.

"Prongs? Are you all right?"

Remus's voice made James jump. The sun had not risen yet, and James had thought perhaps everyone else was asleep.

"Yeah," James croaked. "What time is it?"

"Seven o'clock," Remus said. "I think I woke up when you shouted."

"What?"

James frowned. It wasn't like him to have a troubled sleep.

"I'm not sure what you said, but I thought it sounded like it was about Snape," Remus said.

"What's going on? Who screamed?" Peter whined from underneath his duvet.

"Anyway, I guess it's about time to wake up," Brody said slowly.

"It's nothing, Wormtail," James said. "Sorry I woke you all up."

"Not _all_ of us," Remus said.

Predictably, there was no movement nor sound coming from Sirius's bed.

"Oi, Padfoot!" Peter called.

"Allow me," Remus said.

Remus lit up his wand and walked towards Sirius's bed. Remus grabbed Sirius's shoulders and shook them. Sirius stirred and turned to the other side.

"Leave me alone, Moony," Sirius muttered, without opening his eyes.

"It's time to wake up, Sirius," Remus said wearily. "Come on."

"Every morning," James said, rolling his eyes.

For once, James was grateful for Sirius's protests and whines as Remus continued trying to get him to wake up. At least, it meant that the attention was currently on Sirius instead of him. He didn't really feel like sharing what he had dreamt about. Someone turned the lights on and James stood up and stretched. Snape's sneering face was imprinted in his brain and that made him feel queasy. Looking around, he saw that Brody, who was sitting on his bed, looked slightly sick as well. Brody's large brown eyes were bloodshot and blank.

"Are you all right?" James asked.

Brody stared back at him, startled, as if he was seeing him for the first time.

"I don't know," Brody said. "I'm not feeling very good, to be honest. What was that you were shouting in your sleep? About Snape and Puritas?"

James's brow furrowed. There was something not quite right with Brody, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Nothing," James lied. "I don't remember."

Sirius had finally deigned to wake up and was glaring at them as he buttoned up his shirt.

"What's wrong with you anyway, MacDougal? You've been acting weird for months," Sirius said.

Brody blushed, turned away and started rummaging in his chest of drawers.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Brody grumbled. "I'm going to the bathroom."

Brody walked towards the door, looking down, his clothes in his arms.

"You need a haircut, by the way," Sirius said. "Long hair doesn't suit everyone."

Brody's cheeks turned red, but he still refused to meet anyone's eye.

"Sod off, Black," Brody said, and he slammed the door on his way out of the dormitory.

"Seriously, what's wrong with him?" Sirius said to the room at large.

James rolled his eyes.

"Padfoot, you're my best friend, but you can be a bit of a bastard sometimes," James said.

"You should cut him some slack," Remus said.

Sirius sighed and looked at Peter, who pretended to be busy looking for his tie, and didn't say anything.

"Whatever," Sirius said through gritted teeth. "But you've got to admit he's been acting strange for a while now. He didn't use to have this blank look on his face, did he? He's never been the brightest of the lot, but now he looks downright -"

"Oh, stop it, Sirius," James said.

Sirius raised his eyebrows and remained silent for a moment. He wasn't used to James interrupting him.

"But think about it, Prongs," Sirius said. "Haven't you noticed how he is almost never around? I mean, I know he has a girlfriend in another house, but still."

Sirius had pronounced the word girlfriend as if it was a terrible, contagious disease.

"Sirius might have a point here," Peter said.

James glared at Peter, who looked away and busied himself with his tie, which he had now found.

"What are you implying exactly?" James asked.

"Well, I think he might be involved in you-know-what," Sirius said. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was. I've noticed that he's not friendly with Lily, Anna and Mary anymore, and he only hangs out with pureblood people now."

"That's bollocks," James said. "Not Brody. Come on, we've known him for six years, we sleep in the same room. He plays Quidditch with us. No, I can't believe it. I think the truth of who's behind it all is much more obvious. Snape."

Peter stopped fidgeting with his tie and glanced at James, looking frightened.

"Don't you think so, Moony?" James said, appealing to the reasonable one of the group.

Remus hesitated.

"Not everything bad in this world is about Snape," Remus said. "I'm not saying he's not part of it, but… I think that your hatred for him sometimes makes you blind. You're not exactly objective when it comes to Snape."

"We'll see," James said, his jaw set.

James took a deep breath and tried to forget about it all as they finished getting dressed. Sirius stood in front of the mirror for a moment, adjusting his tie. James clapped him on the back as he passed by.

"Yes, yes, you're beautiful, darling," James said.

James and Peter sniggered. Sirius rolled his eyes, but stepped away from the mirror nonetheless.

"Good to see you still care about me," Sirius sniffed. "And that it's not all about Lily now."

James wasn't sure if Lily had told her friends yet, but he had told Sirius, Remus and Peter that Lily and he had kissed barely an hour after it happened. He had been unable to explain the ecstatic smile on his face by anything other than the truth. As he had breakfast with his friends, James glanced at Lily a few times. It had been almost two weeks since his first kiss with Lily. Since then, there had been lots of other kisses, but they had not yet discussed what they were doing exactly. James managed to catch Lily alone before their first class of the day.

"Can we talk?" James said.

It did not look like the best time to ask. Lily was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in her hands. There had been yet another horrific attack on Muggles, in a packed shop in central London. As was becoming the norm, the Dark Mark had been cast. Unfortunately, James thought, news such as this were now so common that if he had to wait for the perfect day to ask, he might have to wait for a while. Besides, if all went well, he hoped that the conversation would cheer up Lily.

"Sure, what about?" Lily said.

James hesitated. What had seemed to him like a simple question half an hour ago now sounded like the hardest thing he had ever had to ask.

"Well, I know there's not any Hogsmeade day out until next month, so I can't exactly ask you out on a date, but… I just wanted to check, we are boyfriend and girlfriend now, right?"

James couldn't remember the last time he had felt so flustered. Maybe never. Lily bit her lip and then smiled. It comforted James to see that she also looked slightly nervous.

"Yes," Lily said. "Yes, we are."

It felt like an explosion of fireworks in James's chest. He grinned and actually had to refrain himself from doing some kind of victory dance as they walked towards the classroom.

"Great," James said.

"So, I guess we can tell people about it, now," Lily said.

James didn't say anything and looked straight ahead as he walked. Lily laughed.

"It's OK, James, I know you've already told your friends," Lily said.

"How do you know?"

"The deadly glares Sirius has been giving me are a good clue," Lily said. "No, I'm kidding. But the three of them haven't exactly been discreet."

James chuckled and stopped Lily for a kiss.

"Don't worry about Sirius, he'll come around," James said. "He just needs some time to get used to it."

Suddenly, James imagined the look on Snape's face when Snape would see James and Lily walking into the Great Hall hand in hand. He felt infinitely better than he had done when he had woken up. By the time they reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, most of their classmates were already there. James smiled at Lily and went to take his usual seat next to Sirius. Their teacher was the same as the year before, something that had not happened since their second year. Professor Cassandra Macmillan was a thin and pale woman in her early forties, whose voice seemed to be permanently broken.

"I bet she won't mention that new attack on Muggles," Sirius whispered to James. "She's always going on about the exams and about the lessons, as if we won't actually need all those spells when we get out of here. The world could collapse outside and she'd still be there with her fake cheerful smile."

Sirius didn't like Professor Macmillan, as she was distantly related to his grandmother. James thought she was actually a pretty good teacher, even though she had quite annoying mannerisms. He usually enjoyed her lessons, but not her whispered kind words and her smiles, which he found somewhat hypocritical.

"To be fair," James said, "all the teachers are behaving this way, pretty much. I guess they think it's to protect us."

"Oh, yeah, such an efficient protection," Sirius scoffed. "I bet Voldemort's having a right laugh about that."

Anna, who was sitting right behind them, let out a gasp at hearing the name. James didn't like this new trend of people being scared of hearing or pronouncing Voldemort's name. He was going to keep on saying his name, no matter how people reacted. He didn't want to give Voldemort that small victory.

* * *

That evening, when James left him to retreat to a sofa in the corner of the common room with Lily, Sirius headed towards Peter, Remus and Venus, who were doing homework. Sirius pointedly ignored Venus, and informed Remus and Peter that he had overheard Brody talking with his Ravenclaw friends earlier.

"They mentioned meeting this evening," Sirius said. "And, look, it seems that he's getting ready to leave."

Brody, who had been studying with Callie, had indeed stood up and was gathering his things.

"I think somebody should try and follow him," Sirius said quickly. "See where he's going."

"Why don't you do it?" Remus said.

Remus didn't really fancy following his dormmate, but he also wanted Sirius to shut up about it.

"I can't," Sirius growled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Got a detention with Slughorn."

Remus sighed and stood up.

"OK, I guess I can go," Remus said.

Sirius looked at Peter.

"Can't," Peter said, cringing. "I've got to finish that Charms essay for tomorrow and I'm far behind."

"I can come with you, Remus," Venus said, standing up. "Whatever Sirius thinks Brody needs to be followed for, I'm happy to help prove him wrong."

Brody left the common room.

"But -" Sirius started.

"Sorry, handsome, we've got to go," Venus said, grabbing Remus's arm. "Our target's escaping. See you later!"

Remus filled Venus in on Sirius's suspicions as they followed Brody through a crowded corridor. Brody's best friend, Alistair Bones, joined Brody and started walking with him. Remus asked Venus how her father was doing and if he was still going on missions abroad for the Ministry. She opened up to him about the reasons behind her parents' divorce, and what she felt were the consequences of it.

"I know my vision of men's pretty dreadful, and probably only partially accurate. But, I don't know, I don't have brothers and the main male figure in my life growing up was my dad. It's complicated, but let's just say he hasn't exactly given me a great example. Made it hard for me to trust men. Except James, of course. And I trusted Brody, but now, I don't know anymore… Anyway, it's been months that he and I don't really talk that much. But you make me have faith in men. You're…"

Venus's brow furrowed as she struggled to find the right word.

"Different," Venus said finally.

"Yeah, I've got very sharp fangs," Remus said, deadpan.

Venus rolled her eyes and they squeezed towards the side of the staircase to let through a group of Ravenclaws going down the stairs.

"You don't know how to take a compliment," Venus said, shaking her head.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was that a compliment?"

"It was, in my book," Venus said.

"I might say you don't know how to give a compliment."

"You'd be right," Venus said.

"I guess you're much more often the complimentee rather than the complimenter."

"Remus and his fancy words."

"Not only am I a werewolf, I'm also pedantic," Remus said. "Quite the catch."

"You're funny," Venus said. "Not in an obvious but sometimes borderline moronic way like James and Sirius. But you're funny."

After a couple of minutes going up stairs, they realised that there was no one else around anymore, and they stopped talking. They put more distance between Brody and Alistair and themselves. Fortunately, Brody and Alistair were deep in conversation and didn't look behind them. Brody and Alistair turned a corner and Remus and Venus stopped walking.

"Where's Adelaide? I thought she was coming with you," Brody said.

They didn't hear what Alastair replied, but a moment later they heard footsteps coming towards them. It seemed Brody had turned and was walking back towards them.

"Quick!" Venus hissed. "Kiss me!"

Venus pinned him against the wall.

"What?" Remus said.

But within the next second, Venus had stood up on tiptoes, grabbed Remus's neck and pressed her lips on his. Remus closed his eyes, paralysed, and then opened them again when he heard Brody's voice from behind Venus.

"What are you doing here?"

Venus pulled away and turned to look at Brody, who gasped when he saw it was Remus who Venus had been kissing.

"Really? Remus?" Brody said. "I thought… never mind."

"We thought we'd be alone here," Venus said lightly.

Brody frowned, his eyes going from Venus to Remus and back again. Sensing that Brody was not really buying it, Remus plucked up the courage to grab Venus's waist and pull her close to him. She was so close that he could see the flickers of yellow in her green eyes. She smiled up at him and placed her arms around his waist too. Brody cleared his throat.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to it, then," Brody said.

Brody quickly walked away in the direction that they had come from. Venus and Remus waited in silence for a minute without moving, but no sounds came from either side of the corridor.

"I think they're both gone," Venus said, taking a few steps back.

"That was quick thinking from your part," Remus said. "I guess that was the only plausible explanation of what we'd be doing in an empty corridor apart from following him. Pity he turned back though, we won't find out where they were going."

They waited for a couple of minutes and then headed back to the common room.

"I infringed my 'no boys' rule, but well, it was an emergency and it was necessary, so I guess it's OK," Venus said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"In the words of our favourite Head Boy, rules are meant to be broken," Remus said, smiling. "So you hadn't kissed anyone for a while, then?"

"Not since the summer," Venus said.

"I'm flattered, even if it was, as you kindly put it, just a necessary emergency," Remus said.

"You didn't seem that flattered," Venus said. "I mean, I practically had to kiss you by force."

Remus chuckled nervously. If he was honest with himself, the amount of coercion she would need to use to kiss him was absolutely zero. But he found it easier to let her believe that the incident had been quite unpleasant for him.

"Oh, come on, I was just shocked and there was no time to react. My body doesn't respond to stress very effectively."

"So kissing me is stress? Blimey, Remus, you're such a smooth talker," Venus said. "Stop it, you're going to make me blush."

"Well, I think my being the subject of Sirius's wrath can be classified as stress," Remus said.

"He doesn't need to know," Venus said. "Besides, it's not like it meant anything. I don't think he'd care."

Remus rolled his eyes but remained silent. He didn't think it was his place to say that he thought Sirius would care very much. Even if he found the idea that Sirius could ever see him as a potential rival quite comical. He was convinced that, given the choice, no girl in her right mind would prefer him to Sirius. Once Sirius was back from his hour of detention, Remus recounted their unsuccessful attempt at following Brody, omitting to detail how they had distracted Brody. Sirius was undeterred and announced that he would be the one following Brody next time.

* * *

"Sirius wants to know if you're free to start on your assignment," Remus said.

Venus rolled her eyes and glanced at Sirius, who seemed to be in deep conversation with Peter. Lily and Venus had finished dinner a while ago and gone back to the common room, when Lily had announced that she was off meeting James. Venus therefore found herself idly flicking through her Charms textbook and wishing there was Quidditch practice instead.

"Why can't he ask me himself?"

Remus shifted from foot to foot, avoiding her eye.

"Alright, he didn't _exactly_ say that," Remus said. "I mean, we're already in November next week. If nobody gives you two a push, you're going to get started too late and you'll both risk failing Transfiguration for a stupid reason. I really wouldn't like this to happen."

"You're right, I guess," Venus said reluctantly.

A few minutes later and after much convincing on Remus's part, Sirius agreed and he and Venus went in search of an empty classroom, walking in silence.

"I know you've heard about that girl I met in a bar during the summer holidays," Sirius said as they entered an empty room. "Is that why you've been cross with me lately?"

Venus shrugged but didn't reply.

"I didn't think you'd care much, since you were otherwise occupied," Sirius said.

Venus frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you were doing the same with Caradoc Dearborn. He was proud of telling me that at your birthday party."

"He told you _what_? That I was sleeping with him?"

"Yeah, that's what he said," Sirius said, confused. "Why? Weren't you -?"

"No!" Venus said quickly. "I've never… Nope. Can't believe he said that."

Venus shook her head.

"Oh," Sirius said.

If he was perfectly honest with himself, Sirius had to admit that he probably wouldn't have spent the night with Amanda if he had not believed that Venus had been sleeping with Caradoc. Although he didn't regret it as he had quite enjoyed it, he was not going to admit out loud that the main reason why he had done it was actually sitting in front of him.

"Well, Amanda - that's her name, she was the one who asked me, by the way," Sirius said, confusedly feeling the need to justify himself. "To come back to hers, I mean. I don't think I would've -"

"None of my business," Venus said sharply.

In spite of her affirmation, Venus looked slightly mollified by his admission. There was an awkward silence, and then they started talking about their assignment. After half an hour of studying, Sirius noticed that Venus seemed to keep her gaze either on the books, on the parchment, or, when he said something, somewhere to the left of his face.

"You can look directly at me, you know, I'm not a Basilisk," Sirius said, raising his eyebrows.

Venus pressed her lips together, and then muttered something under her breath.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that?"

"I said, I find looking at you to be slightly distracting," Venus said, looking down at the book in her hands. "Now can we go back to Advanced Transfiguration?"

Sirius took a deep breath, which made him realise he had been holding his breath for a moment, and smiled.

"No, I think we should go back to you finding me distracting. Why's that?"

Venus huffed, her eyes still fixed on the book.

"You know very well why. And technically, there's no need for me to look at you while we are studying, so I don't see the issue. We need to get some work done, Sirius, we're already behind. Please?"

Sirius tilted his head to the side and stared at her, a smirk lingering on his face. But the effect was wasted on Venus, as she still refused to look at him. Eventually, he nodded. Venus turned her attention to the notes Sirius had been taking so far. She picked up the piece of parchment and examined it for a minute, smiling slightly, before placing it back on Sirius's side of the table.

"You've got a beautiful handwriting," Venus said, finally looking at him. "That's quite surprising. I've always thought you to be the type of person who couldn't care less about stuff like that."

"My dear mother made sure of that," Sirius said bitterly. "She used to make Regulus and I sit there and write for hours when we were kids, until it was perfect, and if it wasn't…"

Sirius waved his hand in the air, mimicking a slap. Venus's smile was gone and she was staring at Sirius with an appalled expression. Swiftly, she leaned forward and placed her hand on his. Her hand was warm and a pleasant glow spread into Sirius's body, making the memories of his childhood disappear momentarily.

"That's awful. I knew your parents were bad, but –"

"It's okay," Sirius interrupted. "Let's not talk about them, that would just darken the mood."

"All right," Venus said softly. "I just wanted to say – well, I'm here, if you ever want to talk about them. Or if you just want someone to insult them with you. My father taught me lots of insults for the Black family."

Sirius laughed, and then looked down at their hands, still touching. Venus noticed it and promptly pulled her hand away. Sirius instantly missed its warmth.

"Thanks, I might take you up on that offer. After all, you've had years of practice insulting me, you must be really good at that. But, more seriously, thank you. I like that we are sort of friends now."

"'Sort of' friends?" Venus said, but she was smiling. "Yeah, me too."

"I'm rather new at friendship with girls. I'm just starting to figure out how to make it work with Lily. So, tell me if I'm doing anything wrong."

"Darling, where do I even start?" Venus said.

Sirius put one hand on his chest, gasping dramatically and making a face, which made Venus laugh.

"I'm kidding, actually I think it's nice you're trying. But one thing I can tell you upfront, first thing you can do is turn down the crude jokes."

"Right."

"Although that's mostly for Lily. I have to admit," Venus said, smirking, "that I find some of them funny."

"I like a girl with a sense of humour," Sirius smiled. "What else?"

"Why don't we leave the rest for the next time we meet up? I hate to say this, but I have to go and write the essay on Anti-Paralysis Potion we have to hand in tomorrow. I've barely started on it."

Venus took her role as co-Captain very seriously, and had spent much of the previous days preparing the first game of the year. She had put off the essay as long as she could, as she disliked Potions.

"That's definitely not a good reason and you're not allowed to use homework as an excuse from bailing out," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Even though, technically, you'd be bailing out of another homework."

They left the classroom and started heading towards Gryffindor tower.

"Yeah, I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, I can't afford another bad mark in Potions. I really need to write that essay tonight, no matter how long it takes me."

Sirius glanced sideways at her. She sighed dejectedly, head bowed down.

"I've already finished that essay. I could help you," Sirius said. "If you want."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure. That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"Thank you! That would be really great."

They walked in silence for a while. Sirius noticed that a few of the students they passed by stared at them, no doubt surprised to see the two of them together.

"Wait a minute – you're not going to ask for something in return, are you?" Venus said.

Sirius rolled his eyes and held his head high, pretending to be affronted.

"Woman, you wouldn't recognise kindness if it was staring you in the face!"

In truth, Sirius could think of several things he would have liked to ask Venus in return, but none of them fitted within the "sort of friends" situation they had going on. And also, he genuinely wanted to help her.

"One: please, don't call me woman. Two: sorry, I was under the impression I was talking with Sirius Black. Being a girl, forgive me for having some suspicion."

"All right," Sirius said, with a mock exasperated sigh. "I'm not expecting anything in return, I promise."

Venus nodded.

"Well then, thank you very much. I could really use your help."

* * *

By the time James and Lily came back from their "date in the Astronomy Tower", they found Sirius, Venus and Remus huddled on the small couch in the corner of the room, speaking quietly and wearing identical concentrated expressions on their faces. The common room was empty except for them, as it was past eleven o'clock.

"Oi, are you guys planning a prank?" James asked, trying to sound scolding instead of excited.

Judging by the look on Lily's face, he had not been successful. Remus shook his head and held up a long piece of parchment covered in handwriting.

"Potions essay," Remus said.

"They're helping me out," Venus said. "Only three hundred words left."

"Oh," James said, trying not to look disappointed. "I see. Is Wormtail not with you, then?"

"Dormitory," Remus said, without looking up from the parchment.

"OK, well I might go up too," James said. "I'm pretty tired. But not before I say goodnight to you properly, Lily."

James wiggled his eyebrows and Lily giggled as he grabbed her by the waist and kissed her.

"James, mate, can you go and "say goodnight" to Lily a bit further from us, please?" Sirius said, scowling.

"What's wrong, Padfoot, d'you want a kiss as well?" James said, smirking, tilting his head to the side and leaning in towards Sirius.

"Ugh," Sirius said, pushing James away, while everyone laughed. "You wish!"

James and Lily retreated to the bottom of the girls' staircase for their goodnight embrace. Remus pointed at a section of his copy of Advanced Potion-Making, stifling a yawn.

"You could use that bit to write your conclusion," Remus said.

"Ah, yes, good idea!" Venus said, opening the same page on her copy of the book.

They heard James's and Lily's footsteps, signalling their departure to their respective dormitories. Above Venus's bowed head as she was writing, Remus and Sirius looked at each other. Remus had already noticed several minutes ago that Sirius had casually placed an arm on the couch just behind Venus's shoulders. Remus titled his head imperceptibly in the direction of the stairs, and Sirius smiled.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep as well," Remus said, as he stood up and stretched. "If you don't mind, Venus."

Neither Sirius nor Venus moved an inch, now that there was more space on the couch.

"Of course!" Venus said, looking up at Remus. "Sorry, Remus, I know it's a bit late. Thank you very much, again."

Venus turned her head to Sirius, expecting him to follow Remus.

"It's okay, I'm not tired," Sirius said. "Besides, I promised you I'd help you on that essay so I'm not leaving until the last dot is on the page."

Remus suppressed a smile and left. Sirius looked down at what Venus was writing, to try and give her some ideas, but he found that without Remus's presence it was much more difficult to concentrate on the essay. Cautiously and slowly, as if he was trying to touch someone that was asleep without waking them up, Sirius moved his hand from the couch onto Venus's shoulder and caressed it gently. Her face didn't show any reaction, but she suddenly stopped writing mid-sentence.

"You could end it by making a link to the third paragraph, where you mentioned the potion's properties," Sirius said.

Venus nodded and a couple of minutes later, she wrote the final sentence and sighed of relief, a smile lighting up her tired face.

"Blimey, that was long. I don't know how I would have done it without you and Remus. Thank you."

Venus snuggled up against Sirius and he put his arms around her, trying to imagine that she was James or Peter or Remus and this was just a friendly, platonic hug. After a few seconds, she pulled away rather abruptly and stood up.

"You've been on your best behaviour tonight," Venus said, smiling. "Well done."

"That makes me sound like I'm a puppy you're training," Sirius said, doubting that was a good thing, as he followed her towards the girls' staircase. "In any case, you see, I am perfectly able to behave when I want to, even when the temptations are strong."

Venus took the first steps of the staircase and then turned towards Sirius, who was leaning against the bannister at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her.

"Sirius, you do know you can't follow me up there, don't you?"

"Yeah, I experienced the slide years ago," Sirius laughed.

Venus continued walking up, and spoke with her back to him.

"Al lright then, thanks again, and goodnight. I owe you one."

"That's a very dangerous thing to say to me," Sirius said, and, smiling to himself, he made his way towards the boys' staircase.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Lily was feeling grouchy, as was customary for her on a Thursday afternoon. They were just leaving the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and were on their way towards the Transfiguration one. Lily couldn't figure out why Professor Macmillan didn't like her. It was a strange experience for her, as she had been used from a very young age to being the teacher's pet, or at least, liked by all teachers. It was the first time in her life when she felt like the teacher would rather be talking with someone else whenever Lily spoke. And she just wanted to understand why. Was it something she had said in class? This year, or the year before? Or maybe the fact that she was Head Girl?

"Lily, you look like you need a hug."

James's arms encircled her from behind and Lily smiled.

"Thanks, I needed this, actually. Do I look that grumpy?" Lily said.

Lily felt so safe in James's arms that for a few seconds everything around them seemed to disappear. He really gave the best hugs, and he usually could see whenever she needed one.

"You always look amazing," James said. "Even when you look grumpy."

James placed an arm around her shoulders as they continued walking among their classmates. When they arrived to the corridor leading to the Transfiguration classroom, Sirius asked to talk to her alone, in a tone that was, in her opinion, overly dramatic. James smiled slightly, nodded and left them some space. Lily stood staring at Sirius curiously, wondering what he had to say to her. Sirius leant against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked down at Lily through narrowed eyes.

"You know I like you, Lily, you're all right," Sirius said gruffly. "But James is the most important person in my life. If you ever, _ever_ hurt him, you'll have me to answer to."

Lily bit her lip, but that did not prevent her entirely from smiling.

"That's good, then, because I have no intention of ever hurting James," Lily said.

"Good," Sirius said. "James and I, we're - we're better than brothers."

Brody almost bumped into her as he passed by, and he didn't apologise. His face was even paler than usual and he looked like he was sick. Lily frowned at him and then turned her gaze back to Sirius.

"I know," Lily said softly. "And I want to be friends with you, Sirius. Believe me, it's not my intention for you to ever feel left out."

"I didn't say I'm feeling left out," Sirius grumbled, but he stood up a bit taller and uncrossed his arms. "It's just - I want him to be happy, you know?"

Lily grinned.

"Do I have authorisation to hug you?" Lily said.

"Authorisation granted," Sirius said. "As I said, you're all right."

Lily gave Sirius's chest a playful shove and hugged him. When she pulled back, Venus was standing near them, holding an envelope in her hands and looking the other way.

"I'll leave you to it," Lily said.

Lily went to join James, and they disappeared into the classroom. Venus watched them go, and then finally turned to Sirius and handed him a small ivory envelope.

"For your birthday," Venus said.

Sirius opened it to find two tickets for a concert of the Dragon Keepers, one of his favourite bands, in London over the following Easter holidays. Sirius smiled broadly. Venus had clearly remembered their long conversations about music before the summer.

"Thank you, that's awesome! I've always wanted to see them play live. How did you manage to get tickets?"

The Dragon Keepers were in the height of their fame and the last time they had done a concert during school holidays the previous year, James and Sirius had not done in time to buy tickets before they were sold out. Their singer was a pretty woman in her early thirties, with a raspy rock'n'roll voice and long red wavy hair which she often gyrated during the guitar solos. Both Sirius and James were adamant that her good looks was not the reason why they liked the band so much, as they did not want to resemble twelve-year-old fangirls, but they clearly didn't hurt.

"Asked my father," Venus said grudgingly. "He knows some people."

Sirius smiled again as he brandished the two tickets, imagining the Quidditch stadium full to breaking point and shaking under the sounds of the drums. He also pictured himself in the excited crowd, being pressed closer to Venus and finding that he was not so interested in ogling the singer, after all.

"Two tickets, eh? Is that a date?"

To Sirius's satisfaction, Venus cleared her throat and looked down at her feet for a moment.

"Well, I thought you might prefer to go with James," Venus muttered, and then looked up at him again. "But if not, yeah, I'd like to go. I really like their music."

"It's more than four months away, and I don't like to make plans. But I'll definitely keep that in mind."

"Yeah, whatever's fine," Venus said, shrugging. "It's your gift."

"James isn't that big of a fan, by the way. Mostly he fancies the singer, I think it's because she reminds him of Lily. Thank you again," Sirius said earnestly. "I wasn't expecting it."

"I'm not _always_ a cold-hearted bitch," Venus said, smirking.

Sirius took a step towards her.

"I've never said you were," Sirius said, and then his brow furrowed and he seemed to reconsider. "Well, alright, I might have said it, but that was back when I didn't really know you."

Sirius placed one arm around Venus's waist and kissed her cheek, lingering a bit longer than necessary. He was vaguely aware of a tall, dark shape out of the corner of his eye. He straightened up and looked to his right to find Professor McGonagall staring at them and apparently fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

"I remember less than two months ago you were begging me to not be paired together," McGonagall said. "I should have known no one changes their mind more easily than teenagers."

"It's not what it looks like, Professor," Sirius said quickly, as he let his arm drop to the side. "We're just friends."

This time, McGonagall gave in to the urge to roll her eyes.

"Your love life is no concern or responsibility of mine, Mr Black," McGonagall said, her voice slightly warmer than usual, but also bordering on mocking. "Thank Merlin. However, I would suggest keeping displays of affection for after classes."

Sirius's face was slightly flustered, his embarrassment culminating with hearing the words "love life" spoken in connection with Venus. Venus looked half annoyed and half amused, and kept her eyes on the floor as their professor walked past them and into the classroom. They were now the only two people left in the corridor, the last few students having entered just before McGonagall.

"It's not fair! We weren't even – _actually_ , wanna give McGonagall a proper reason to make fun of us?" Sirius said.

Sirius pulled Venus towards him and kissed her neck, tickling her ribs at the same time. Venus emitted an unusually girly giggle and although she wriggled against him in a pretence to get away, she also pressed her lips to Sirius's neck and near the corner of his mouth.

"Stop it," Venus panted, smiling. "If she comes out and finds us –"

"We'll get in trouble," Sirius said huskily, sounding like there was nothing that he would enjoy more, but he released her from his grip.

Sirius brushed the hair out of his eyes and made his way into the classroom. Venus followed him inside and closed the door behind her, trying to get her breathing back to normal. Sirius stood next to McGonagall's desk, looking perfectly at ease again. He even turned to wink at Venus.

"I am glad you two have decided to join us," McGonagall said primly, her tone clearly back to business-as-usual.

"Sorry, Professor," Sirius said, and then added as an afterthought, "it's my birthday today."

A few people sniggered as McGonagall's eyes widened.

"Oh, I am ever so sorry, Black, should I have given you a present? Or perhaps you would appreciate it if we started this class by singing for you?"

There was more laughter. Sitting in the second row, Lily was shaking with mirth, looking like she was going to start clapping for McGonagall. Venus bit her lip in order not to join in, as she felt on the verge of erupting in nervous laughter.

"That's very kind of you, Professor," Sirius said mildly, with a polite smile. "I understand why you wouldn't do it though, you can't let everyone know I'm your favourite student."

For one second, McGonagall looked like she was about to smile back at Sirius. Then she sighed, removed her glasses and made a great show of cleaning them.

"Black, you're sitting next to Turner today."

Venus stared at the wall in front of her without seeing it, determined not to look at Sirius again as he sat down in the front row next to Callie. Venus jumped slightly when McGonagall spoke again.

"Lupin."

For the first time that day, Venus forced herself to look at McGonagall in the eyes.

"I beg your pardon, Professor?"

"Go and sit next to Lupin."

Venus headed towards Remus's desk, walking with her head down. She made the mistake of glancing at James as she passed him and he was sporting an insufferable smirk. It was a relief she did not have to sit next to him right now. Venus thanked her lucky stars as she sat down and looked into Remus's green eyes. He smiled at her sweetly. Venus didn't utter a single word during the whole double Transfiguration class, afraid that McGonagall may get angry and taunt her in front of her classmates. However, she found it difficult to concentrate, as she could still feel Sirius's hands on her. After the first hour of the lesson had come and gone, Remus passed her a note in his neat, small handwriting.

 _So, tell me, what has lover boy done this time?_

Venus refrained the urge to snort. She kept her gaze on her Transfiguration book and replied in her own messy handwriting, which she had often been told looked like that of a Healer in a hurry. This had been a source of embarrassment to Venus when she was younger, but she had come to accept the fact that people just had to make a bit of extra effort to read what she wrote.

 _Nothing happened. Not sure why McGonagall got her knickers in a twist. Also: "lover boy"?_

 _We all heard you laugh. The door was open. Sounded like you were having a good time. Re: lover boy, I cringed a bit while writing it, but the look on your face was worth it._

Venus did not reply anything, but merely passed the parchment back to Remus in a swift gesture. Remus rolled his eyes and started writing again.

 _Honestly, you two are worse than the Daily Prophet's Wednesday soap opera stories Mary is so fond of. One week you're fighting, the next one you're kissing, and the next one you're ignoring each other. I'm not fishing for gossip, just trying to understand what is the current status. It's difficult for the rest of us to know how to act around you as it's constantly changing._

Caught up in her confused feelings, Venus had to admit she had never stopped to consider how annoying it had to be for the friends she and Sirius had in common. It must be quite irritating for them to not know where they stood and have to pick up the pieces after an argument, or walk on eggshells around them.

 _The current status is undefined. Sorry. Just assume Sirius and I are friends. OK - friends that occasionally kiss and drive each other crazy. Anyway, don't be nosy, Remdear._

 _Remdear?_

 _James is JP, Lily is Little Red, Sirius is Lover boy (apparently… though can you imagine ever saying that to his face?!). I've got to give you a nickname._

 _OK. I like it. Although I can already hear James and Sirius snickering about it. Have you given Sirius anything for his birthday?_

 _They don't need to know, it can be your secret nickname. Yeah, I did, concert tickets, and apparently Lover boy thinks it's a date._

 _Venus, don't try to fool me. Wasn't it meant to be one?_

 _I don't know, it's up to him who he takes with him. I just knew he likes that band. Be careful, I've just seen McGonagall staring at us, let's stop for a few minutes._

For a short while that seemed to her like centuries, Venus focused on McGonagall's explanations on how to conjure a horse.

 _Ah, so you wouldn't mind if I went with him, for example?_

Venus laughed inwardly at the thought of Remus at a rock concert.

 _Remdear, you couldn't stand more than five minutes of that concert, believe me. You just wouldn't survive. Although I'd like to see you in a leather jacket, instead of your usual cardigans, that would be nice. No, scratch that, actually: you in Sirius's leather jacket and Sirius in one of your cardigans. Now_ _that_ _would make my day._

Remus smiled and took a full minute to reply.

 _That's an interesting fantasy._

Venus rolled her eyes and watched as Remus tried to stifle a snigger.

 _I am a girl with interesting tastes._

Venus passed him the note, and then spent the next five minutes poured over a new piece of parchment. When she passed it back to Remus, he saw that it was a drawing of two boys. One had long black hair and was wearing what looked like a cardigan and looking very disgruntled about it too, with his arms crossed over his chest and his hands in the cardigan's pockets. The other boy had a scar across his cheek and was wearing a bright smile below his large sunglasses, hands clutching the collar of his black jacket. Although the facial features were not very developed, the drawing was actually pretty good. Remus wrote "Venus's fantasy" at the bottom of the drawing and added a heart and a smile for good measure. Venus watched in wide-eyed horror as Remus rolled up the parchment and levitated it with his wand until the first row where it landed on Sirius's lap. McGonagall was interrogating Peter at the other end of the classroom and did not see anything. A moment later, Sirius turned towards them, raising his eyebrows, and gave an arch smile.

 _I am going to kill you, Remus Lupin. I trusted you!_

Venus ducked her head, trying to hide behind the boy sitting in front of her.

 _Don't ever forget that I am one of the Marauders. Trust me, you'll thank me later. He would kill me if he knew I was telling you this, but you do know that Sirius likes you a lot, don't you?_

At the same time as she finished reading Remus's note, the boy in front of Venus turned to pass her a piece of parchment displaying a pretty and distinguished handwriting Venus was now familiar with.

 _Nice drawing, hot stuff, I didn't know you could draw. Can I keep it? You've got to tell me more about that fantasy of yours… I have to admit though, Remus is rocking my jacket. - S._

Venus smiled down at the parchment, and then put it away and scribbled below Remus's last note.

 _Remus,_ _please._ _This is getting embarrassing. If you continue, I will probe_ _you_ _about who you like a lot._

Remus sighed, his cheeks colouring slightly as he read Venus's last words. He turned to Venus, who was smirking.

"What?" Remus mouthed.

Venus leant towards him to scribble on the note that was still in front of him.

 _You're so bloody cute._

* * *

Half of the following Saturday was spent studying, much to Sirius's dismay, but the other half was spent preparing for the party that they were having that night in the common room, to celebrate Sirius's eighteenth birthday, so it wasn't a totally lost day.

"Should we go and get an early dinner?" Peter said, as he put down his quill.

"I'm starting to get hungry," Remus said, his nose still in his book.

They had not seen Brody for several hours. Sirius had managed to convince James that they had to do something to find out what he was up to.

"You guys go ahead," James said. "We'll catch you later."

Peter seemed happy enough about the fact that he was going to be eating very soon, and walked towards the door without a second glance at James and Sirius. Remus, however, slowly put his book down, stood up and looked at them.

"Are you two up to something I should be concerned about?" Remus said.

Sirius looked at James. They both knew the pill would be swallowed more easily if it came from James. Remus always said Sirius exuded trouble even if he didn't speak.

"Better if you don't know, Moony," James said, not wanting to lie. "Don't worry, it's for a good cause."

"Oh, who am I kidding, it's not like I can make you change your mind, anyway," Remus said. "Besides, I feel like I need a steak right now."

"I don't know if I want to be alone with you when you're in a bloodthirsty mood," Peter said, casting Remus a worried glance.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Don't be too long, you two, or Wormtail might just get scared and run out on me," Remus said.

When the door closed behind Remus and Peter, James turned to Sirius.

"So, what's your plan, Padfoot?"

Sirius got up from his bed, walked to Brody's and started opening the drawers to the chest of drawers next to Brody's bed.

"You've got to be kidding me," James said,

Sirius froze and looked at James.

"I know it's not exactly ethical," Sirius said. "But if he's involved in it he'll never just tell us, will he? There must be something in there."

Sirius turned towards the chest of drawers again and started rummaging in it, taking things out and placing them on the floor after a cursory examination. James watched him, torn between the need to know what was going on and the feeling of betraying his friend and Quidditch teammate. He was afraid of Brody walking in on them now, he had no idea what justification they could possibly give him. Sirius waved a piece of parchment in the air.

"You wouldn't keep a spare piece of parchment in the middle of books and other stuff, right?" Sirius said, and he tapped it with his wand. "Aparecium."

Sirius sat down on Brody's bed and read as handwriting began appearing. It looked like some kind of list.

 _\- Next meeting: Thursday, usual time_

 _\- Read The Muggle Conspiracy by Sinistra Lowe_

 _\- Research Conor Snyde's theory_

Sirius's hand shook slightly as he handed the parchment over to James without a word.

"What the hell?" James muttered under his breath.

Sirius silently put all the other things back into the chest of drawers. James was still staring at the words uncomprehendingly, trying to imagine Brody reading anti-Muggle books. James jumped at the sound of the door opening. Brody came in but froze in the doorway when he saw James sitting on his bed and Sirius on the floor next to it.

"Come here," Sirius said.

"We've got to ask you something," James said, standing up.

Sirius stood up too, and James and he faced a terrified looking Brody.

"We found this," James said, roughly shoving the parchment in Brody's hand.

Brody looked at it and his face lost the little colour it had.

"What do you mean, you found it?" Brody said, his voice shaking slightly. "Have you been going through my things?"

"That's not the point," Sirius said quickly, with a dismissive wave of his hand. "The point is, we _know_."

"Broderick," James said. "You're part of this Puritas group, aren't you?"

Brody nodded, staring at the floor.

"Are you the one leading it?" Sirius said.

"It's not like you think -" Brody said.

Sirius grabbed Brody by the collar and tightened his grip, his face so close to Brody's he could smell a feminine perfume no doubt left by Adelaide.

"Are you?" Sirius repeated.

Brody was struggling for breath and his hands were shaking as he weakly tried to push Sirius away.

"Yes," Brody said. "Yes, I guess I am, but -"

"You _guess_?" Sirius scoffed, releasing his grip on Brody. "Are you too much of a coward to at least own up to it?"

Brody looked at James, who still had not spoken.

"James, believe me, it's not what you think, I -"

"You disgust me," James spat. "Who else is organising it with you? Snape?"

"There's a Secretary," Brody said quietly.

"Is it Snape?" James said eagerly.

Sirius felt dread choking his throat. It wasn't Snape, he thought, it was worse than that.

"It's Reg," Brody whispered.

To hear it said out loud was worse than Sirius had expected. The fact that he used his brother's nickname, the fact that the two of them were pureblood supremacist buddies, made Sirius feel sick. James gaped at Brody for a while, then emitted a frustrated growl.

"I can't believe you agree with these people!" James said. "What's next? Are you going to follow Voldemort?"

Brody shuddered. He looked up at them, wide-eyed, like a trapped animal.

"No, of course not!" Brody said, his voice strangled. "No! I'd never -"

"Get out," Sirius said. "Get out of this room, right now."

Brody swallowed and looked at James automatically for support, apparently not understanding that there would not be support anymore. James walked towards the window and spoke with his back turned to them.

"You heard him," James said. "And don't you ever do or say anything against Lily. You don't want to know what'll happen to you if you do."

Brody took a few tentative steps towards the door.

"And, Broderick?" James said. "You're out of the Quidditch team. Obviously."

Brody almost ran out of the dormitories.

"I'm sorry, Prongs, I know you liked him," Sirius said, once the silence became unbearable.

"And I'm sorry about your brother, Padfoot," James said, turning towards Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. He didn't have the words right now to express how he felt about it. He felt like he had known it all along anyway, deep down.

It was strange to think that in barely an hour, they would be having a party. It felt barely real. It struck Sirius how good they were all becoming at acting like everything was fine, at managing to bottle up their feelings and behave like normal teenagers. Of course, Sirius had learnt to do that at a young age. It was necessary if you wanted to survive in the Noble House of Black. And he knew it was a given for Remus, too, because of his condition. But he hadn't expected people like James and Peter, who wore their hearts on their sleeves and had so far lived perfectly comfortable lives, to join their ranks. They were all nice little products of war now. Sirius hated that.

Sirius and James ate their dinner at record speed, as Remus and Peter were almost done by the time they arrived in the Great Hall, and neither of them was hungry after what they had found out. They agreed to keep it to themselves for the rest of the day, and to try and have fun at the party. But Remus noticed they were uncharacteristically silent as they changed clothes in their dormitories after dinner. James pretended he was thinking about Lily, and Sirius said he was saving his best jokes for the party, and Remus decided to leave it at that. Fortunately, he didn't ask why Brody wasn't around. By the time James, Peter, Sirius and Remus arrived in the common room, with Sirius wearing one of Remus's cardigans, and Remus sporting Sirius's leather jacket and sunglasses, most Gryffindors from years five to seven were already there.

"Well, mock my so-called fantasy all you want, but you both look somehow more attractive," Venus said.

"Agreed," Lily said.

"Hey!" James protested.

"Oh, come on, James, it's all in good fun," Lily said lightly, and then turned to Sirius. "Sirius, would you mind lending James that jacket some time?"

"Sure," Sirius said. "Everything that's mine is Prongs's. But remember, Lily, it's not all about the jacket, it's the man that makes it."

"You make a good nerd," Lily said sweetly, gesturing at Sirius's clothes and hiding a smile. "No offence, Remus."

"None taken," Remus said, smiling and grabbing the hem of the leather jacket with one hand. "I'm the cool guy tonight."

One hour into the party, Venus took the jacket and sunglasses from Remus. As she put the jacket on, Venus couldn't help but breathe in its smell. She remembered clearly the only other time she had worn it, when she and Sirius had kissed for the first time. The jacket smelt of Sirius, or perhaps Sirius smelt of the jacket, either way it was a delightful smell.

"I saw that," James said from behind her.

Venus turned to him and shrugged, grateful that at least the sunglasses were hiding her eyes.

"What? I like the smell of leather."

"Yeah, sure," James said, smirking.

Venus ignored James, swaggered over to Lily and brushed the hair out of her eyes, in a good imitation of Sirius's mannerism.

"Hey, Evans," Venus said in the deepest voice she could manage. "Wanna take a ride on my motorbike?"

Venus wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Lily giggled and pretended to fan herself. James and Remus were trying their best not to laugh and not doing a very good job of it.

"Is that supposed to be me?" Sirius said.

"Come on, Padfoot," James said, now chuckling at the look on Sirius's face. "You have to admit, it was funny."

"Yeah, don't I make a good Sirius Black?" Venus said, back to her normal voice.

Venus brushed the hair out of her eyes again and stood in front of Sirius, cocking her head to the side as she looked at him. Sirius leant forward to whisper in her ear.

"Stunning. Better than the original."

Venus smiled. Sirius grinned back at his reflection in the mirrored sunglasses.

"D'you mind if I keep your stuff for a bit longer?" Venus said.

"Sure, no problem."

Venus paraded around the room for a while, regaling a group of fifth years with her impersonation of Sirius. James and Lily were dancing together, out of synch but all smiles. Sirius and Remus stood in a corner, watching Venus and the fifth years laughing.

"From behind, it could almost be you," Remus said, looking at Venus.

"Thanks, Moony, but I don't think my arse looks _that_ good," Sirius said.

Remus turned towards Sirius, and rolled his eyes.

"You're ever the romantic," Remus said.

"Oh, so talking about it's a no-go, but ogling it is okay?" Sirius said, raising his eyebrows. "'Cause I totally caught you staring at her arse a minute ago."

"I didn't - well, I -"

"It's alright, I can't blame you," Sirius said, clapping Remus on the back. "A man's got needs."

Remus groaned and covered his face with his hands.

"Please tell me we're not having this conversation," Remus muttered.

"It's okay, Moony," Sirius said, chuckling. "Well, I guess, as long as all you do is look!"

Sirius stopped smiling when he saw Remus's eyes widen and his cheeks colour even more. He had not expected this kind of response.

"I'm having a twinge of conscience," Remus said.

"A twinge of _what?"_

Remus gave a small smile.

"Yeah, nevermind," Remus said.

But Sirius wasn't going to let Remus get away with it by playing their usual games.

"Moony?" Sirius prompted.

"Now, don't get angry, but -"

"This is not starting very well," Sirius muttered.

Remus recounted what had happened the night Venus and he were following Brody. Sirius listened intently, his brow furrowed.

"So, basically, it didn't mean anything," Sirius said.

"Exactly!" Remus said, his face lighting up.

"That's funny, she implied the same thing when she kissed me," Sirius said.

Sirius surveyed the dance floor, scowling.

"I'm sure that was very different. But you believe me, don't you, Padfoot?"

Sirius sighed, and then mustered a smile.

"Yeah, I believe you," Sirius said. "I understand what happened. Anyway, I guess I'm not entitled to say anything about it. She's free to kiss you, Lily, Snape, or Dumbledore, or whoever she wants! Although out of these four, I've got to admit I'd prefer if it was Lily."

They remained silent for a while.

"Did you enjoy it?" Sirius said briskly.

"What?" Remus started.

"The kiss, did you enjoy it?"

Remus's cheeks coloured again. That was enough to confirm to Sirius that the answer was most likely positive.

"Oh, I don't know, I mean I didn't have the time to -"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Sirius interrupted. "I don't think I want to know the answer anyway. How did you know I might get angry about it? I mean, I never told you I fancied her or anything."

It was Sirius's turn to look flustered. Remus smiled.

"Padfoot, I've been your friend for six years. You didn't even need to tell me. I worked it out by myself."

Sirius realised Remus was the kind of friend that would put selflessly his friend first in any case, the kind of friend you'd better hold on to as long as you could. A small part of him was still displeased at the thought of Remus and Venus kissing, but he knew he had to keep that voice quiet.

"You're a good friend, Moony. Now, let's go get you a Butterbeer."

Later in the evening, Sirius managed to catch Venus when she stopped dancing to get a drink. He had spent a considerable amount of time, more than he would care to admit, watching her dancing. The fact that James was stuck to Lily instead of being with him felt like a poor excuse for a ridiculous behaviour he would usually have associated with fifth year James.

"Can I give this back to you?" Venus said, taking off the leather jacket. "I'm too hot with it."

Sirius grinned.

"I couldn't agree more," Sirius said as he took the jacket and sunglasses from her, and placed them on an empty chair.

"Yeah, I knew you were going to say something like that as soon as I said it. I guess I should be more careful with my words when I'm around you," Venus said.

They exchanged a few pleasantries about the party before Sirius felt it was safe enough to get to the topic he knew would need to come up sooner rather than later.

"Are you still close friends with Brody, by the way?" Sirius asked.

"Not really," Venus said. "It's been over a year that we don't hang out much. We're still friends, though. Just less close."

"That's understandable. From what I heard at the time, he kissed you, then he asked you out and you said no. Bound to make things awkward. Even I felt a bit sorry for him. Which I regret now."

"That's not the only reason," Venus said, frowning. "Besides, you make it sound worse than it actually was. And he got over it."

Sirius remained silent. Who could tell what Brody felt, he thought. He knew nothing of him, as it turned out, despite having spent over six years sleeping in the same room.

"Why are you so interested in Brody, anyway? And where's he?"

"We'll tell you," Sirius said. "But not now. Tonight's a celebration, we're here to have fun."

As he looked into her eyes, Sirius realised he wouldn't have the heart to tell her about Brody. He hoped James would. In many ways, James was stronger than him, especially when it came to handling other people's feelings.

"Come on, tell me, don't be such a tease," Venus said.

"Believe me, I'm being a good friend to you right now. Speaking of that, Princess, I've heard you're going around kissing my friends."

James had told him a long time ago that he and his parents had nicknamed her Princess when as a child, she was throwing tantrums when she didn't get her way. She didn't comment on it, but he saw her resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"Friend. Singular, not plural," Venus said. "So he told you, did he?"

Venus narrowed her eyes and glanced across the room at Remus, who was talking with Peter and Anna.

"And he did well," Sirius said. "Next time you kiss one of my friends, I'd appreciate it if you didn't hide it."

He could still remember the taste of her skin from when he had kissed her neck two days earlier, yet at this moment she moment she felt as unattainable as the shore of the cold lake where his father had taught him how to swim when he was a child.

"Well, I don't intend to kiss James or Peter, ever, so you can be at peace," Venus said. "And it seems Remus's been traumatised by the experience. You should've seen the look on his face! I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen again."

That wasn't the impression Sirius had got from talking with Remus earlier, but he found that he didn't feel like mentioning it.

"I doubt he was traumatised. But anyway, since it's my birthday and you've already broken your rule with Remus, I believe you owe me a kiss," Sirius said.

Venus pretended to examine the logics of his statement and shook her head.

"That's dubious logic."

"Come on, I know you want to," Sirius said. "Let's not forget _you_ were the one who kissed _me_."

"I can't forget it, since you kindly keep reminding me every so often."

"You're welcome," Sirius winked. "You've got to admit, that kiss was pretty awesome."

He couldn't help it. Whenever he was around Venus, he wanted to say something outrageous, or push her boundaries and play with the lines of friendship or politeness, just to get a reaction from her. Sometimes she seemed so cold that he wanted to break the ice and see what happened.

"Stop saying the word kiss all the time," Venus said, looking away and fidgeting with the collar of her shirt.

It was a victory each time the ice did break.

"Why?" Sirius smirked and stepped closer to her. "Am I making you nervous?"

"Padfoot! Come here, you've got to hear this!"

James bounced towards them and tugged at Sirius's sleeve, a broad grin on his face.

"Not now, Prongs," Sirius muttered, gritting his teeth.

"Come _on_ ," James said, actually stepping in between Sirius and Venus. "I've got to tell you something, right now."

Venus smiled, looking amused by James's excitement.

"I'll see you later, birthday boy," Venus said.

Sirius sighed and watched her walk towards Callie and Anna. He then turned his attention to his best friend, feeling his annoyance fade as he took in James's blissfully happy smile.

"This'd better be good," Sirius said.

"It's better than good, Sirius," James said, grabbing Sirius's shoulders.

This made Sirius feel slightly worried. James didn't often call him Sirius, especially when it was just the two of them. Also, it occurred to him that James looked slightly demented. He suspected it had something to do with Lily. The girl was usually the source of James's madness, as the previous years had proven.

"She's said it!" James said.

"What? Who said what?"

"She said it - Lily, I mean! She said she loves me!"

After a few seconds of silence, James looked slightly embarrassed, and Sirius could feel his own cheeks reddening. Sirius didn't really know how to respond, and had only formed a half sentence in his head when James took his hands off Sirius's shoulders and looked away.

"I know you're not into talking about feelings and stuff," James said. "And that's perfectly all right with me. I just wanted to let you know, 'cause it's a pretty big thing for me."

"Of course," Sirius said quickly. "Of course you should tell me. And I think it's great. I'm just happy you're happy, Prongs."

James grinned as Sirius clapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I am," James said. "Very, very happy. Well, I'm off to tell Wormtail and Moony."

Most people had gone to bed not long after that. As far as clandestine parties went, this wasn't a bad one at all, Sirius reflected as he lounged in an armchair by the fire. They had been lucky enough that McGonagall hadn't come in.

"Can I sit here?"

It was Lily. Sirius nodded and she sat down on the couch opposite him.

"What's the star of the party doing all by his lonesome?"

Sirius smiled.

"I'm a bit of an attention seeker," Sirius said. "You know."

Sirius was actually pleasantly surprised that Lily was the one to seek him out. The fact that he got to spend less time with his best friend was difficult for him to accept. He knew that seeing James would more and more mean seeing Lily too, but at least James had the good taste of picking someone clever, kind and far from unpleasant to look at. Not that he would ever tell James that last part.

"I haven't given you your gift yet," Lily said, her cheeks slightly flushed as she handed him a small package. "I've just been upstairs to get it. Happy birthday, Sirius."

It was a book entitled _The Call of the Wild,_ with a large grey dog sitting in the snow on the cover. It looked like a Muggle book. Sirius turned it around to skim through the summary.

"Thanks," Sirius said. "I guess James told you that even if I don't look like it, I actually enjoy reading from time to time, if it's adventure stories."

"James told me," Lily said, smiling and leaning over and pointing at the dog on the cover. "About you three."

"I know," Sirius said. "He did ask us if it was ok before he told you. You're the only person who knows, apart from us four."

"My lips are sealed," Lily said. "If I can get you to play fetch."

Lily giggled as Sirius huffed and turned his nose up.

"Excuse me, I have my dignity," Sirius said.

Sirius was glad that Lily did not know about the various stories his friends could tell of times when he had lost his dignity, in human or dog form.

"Oh, come on, who's a good boy?" Lily said, still smiling broadly.

But instead of playing along, Sirius thought of Brody alone upstairs, of his ideas about people like Lily. He felt a sudden need to protect her and tell her everything would be all right, even though there was a good chance it would not and they both knew it. He reached out to take Lily's hand but then thought better of it. Instead, he grabbed her arm and patted it gently. Lily looked down at his hand on her arm.

"What are you doing, Sirius?"

"I don't know," Sirius said. "Trying to be friend with a girl? You girls like hugs and stuff, don't you?"

Lily bit her lip, her eyes twinkling. It was something, Sirius realised, that she often did around him these days. He retrieved his hand and cleared his throat.

"You're cute," Lily said. "Don't worry, I'll educate you about girls."

"I don't need any education about that," Sirius said, stung.

"Oh, yes, you do," Lily said. "You've got the looks, I'll give you that, but you've no idea how girls work, really."

"Ah, so I've got the looks, eh?" Sirius said, winking.

Lily laughed, shaking her head.

"I can't believe you've just ignored the rest of the sentence."

"That's typical Sirius," James said from behind Lily.

James planted a kiss on Lily's cheek as he sat down close to her on the couch, and put an arm around her shoulders.

"You were right, he's not that bad," Lily said to James.

"I told you so," James said, grinning.

"Hey, I'm _right here_ ," Sirius said.

"I'm going to help him understand girls," Lily said to James, still ignoring Sirius.

James whistled.

"Blimey, you're ambitious, Lily," James said. "I guess you'll have to teach me, too."

Lily smiled and snuggled up against James, closing her eyes. Sirius noticed the common room was now empty except for the three of them, and Remus, Peter and Venus.

"Oh, you're not doing too bad, James Potter," Lily said.

Sirius looked up as Venus strolled towards them, looking slightly dishevelled and tired, no doubt from all the dancing she had been doing instead of sitting on Sirius's lap like he would have wanted her to.

"I'm going to sleep, I'm knackered and we've got Quidditch practice tomorrow morning," Venus said.

Sirius groaned. He couldn't face the thought of having to wake up early the next day.

"Can't we postpone it? Exceptional circumstances?" Sirius said.

"Definitely not," Venus said. "The match's in two weeks!"

"I knew you were going to be even worse than James," Sirius grumbled.

Venus smiled and bent over to kiss him on the cheek.

"There, you got your birthday kiss," Venus whispered.

"Wait!" Sirius said as she was already turning away. "That's not really what I had in mind -"

"Goodnight, everyone," Venus said.

Sirius crossed his arms across his chest and stared at the wall in front of him as she walked away. Lily smiled sweetly at him.

"As I said, I'll teach you," Lily said, nodding.

James was conspicuously suppressing laughter, trying to hide his face into Lily's hair.

"Oh, shut up," Sirius said, but he couldn't help but smile back at her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It had started a few weeks earlier, when Venus had kissed him. Or at least, that was when he had first become aware of it. It had actually started before that.

Remus's first crush had been Marlene McKinnon, when he was in his fifth year at Hogwarts and she in her seventh. But at the time, kissing Marlene, going on a date with her, or run his hand through her long blonde hair were the only things that his fifteen-year-old self had dared to imagine. Then Marlene had left school, he had not seen her again and after a few weeks the fantasies had faded away and it had been easy to get over it. Remus had not really been interested in anyone else after that, carefully avoiding any conversations or opportunities that might arise, terrified at the idea of someone finding out his secret or rejecting him because of it.

But now, here he was fantasising about a girl he felt was so out of his league, they might as well be from different planets. A girl who he knew one of his best friends had his eye on. The only good thing about his condition was that for several days a month he felt too tired or ill to even think about girls, so that at least he sometimes didn't think about her for days on end. Today was not one of these days, and when he saw Venus appear from the staircase leading to the girls' dormitories, he waved at her.

"How was Quidditch practice?" Remus asked.

Venus sat down next to him, bringing with her a fresh smell of citrus which was also vaguely minty. Probably her shampoo, Remus thought, as she must have just had a shower after the Quidditch practice. It took all of Remus's willpower to not imagine her having a shower. It was already barely acceptable for Remus to have these thoughts once in a while when he was alone, there was no way he would allow his thoughts to drift in that direction while he was sitting next to her. Another consequence of his condition was his ability to control his thoughts most of the time, and hide his emotions. He didn't want her to find out about his silly crush under any circumstances.

"It went great, thanks. We're quite confident about the next match. By the way, I've been wanting to ask you, what's that new hairstyle?" Venus said, taking in Remus's messy hair. "James Potter fashion?"

Remus felt his cheeks go pink. The truth was that he hadn't been bothered to get a haircut since August, when his father had insisted he should get one.

"I'm kidding, Remdear." Venus smiled and leant towards him to ruffle his hair. "Looks cute on you."

Lily had told him something similar earlier in the week, but that had not caused him to start hyperventilating like he felt on the verge of doing now.

"I like it on James, too, but don't tell him that, I've spent the last three years making fun of his constant hair ruffling."

Her smile faded as she noticed the fresh scar just below his ear, consequence of the last full moon three days earlier. She reached out her hand to touch it and Remus went from feeling slightly too warm to icy cold.

"Don't," Remus said, recoiling.

He grabbed her hand and placed it firmly back on her thigh, avoiding her eye.

"Does it hurt, sweetie?"

The concern and pity in her voice were diametrically opposed from the tone Remus would have liked her to use with him, in an ideal world where he was just a regular seventeen-year-old boy.

"Doesn't matter. I just don't want you to look at it," Remus said, more harshly than he had intended.

He felt his jaw clench with tension, like every time someone examined his scars. But no one ever touched them, except for his mother when he was much younger. Thinking of his mother only made him feel worse and he tried to let the thought pass by, as if he was watching a cloud drift away.

"Of course it does matter. And I'm not repulsed or frightened by you, Remus," Venus whispered.

"Well, maybe you should be."

Finally he managed to look at her. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head, while a voice chanted 'shut up you idiot' over and over in Remus's head.

"Don't you dare say that," Venus said.

"You don't understand."

Venus gave a great sigh, stared into Remus's eyes for a moment and then seemed to give up. There was a rather long silence, which allowed Remus to clear his mind.

"Are you working on the new Transfiguration essay?" Venus said, glancing at the piece of parchment and book on Remus's lap.

"Yes," Remus said, relieved that the conversation was going towards a safer topic. "I've been working on it most of today and I'm only halfway through the word count. This is turning out to be the most difficult subject this year."

"I know! And McGonagall seems to have this weird fantasy of getting Sirius and I together or something. I don't like the way she looks at me now, like she's all high and mighty and she _knows_ stuff about me I don't even know. Also, I can't get my head around this bridge conjuring spell. When and why would I even need to conjure a stupid bridge, anyway? I've got more important problems to deal with."

 _"_ Like making fun of my hair?"

"No, really, I've got serious problems," Venus said.

Remus smiled. Shadow, Venus's cat, meowed to signal its arrival and jumped onto Venus's lap.

"Yes, you do have a Sirius problem. It's a claims-to-be-6-foot-tall, dark-haired problem with a penchant for drama."

Venus shook her head, trying not to smile. As she petted a content-looking Shadow, Remus couldn't help but think maybe he should have become an Animagus too, so he could turn into a cat.

"That old pun? I expected better of you, Lupin."

Remus chuckled at the look on her face. Anything to make them both forget the tense moment about his scar was most welcome. And over the years he had become very good at steering others towards topics which he was more comfortable with.

"I know, but it was too tempting," Remus said.

Someone cleared their throat and Remus looked up to see Sirius standing in front of them, looking slightly disgruntled.

 _"_ What's so funny?" Sirius said, but did not wait for the answer. "Can I sit here?"

Sirius gestured towards the small space between Remus and Venus.

"We were talking about you, actually," Remus said.

Both Venus and Remus moved at the same time away from each other to leave space for Sirius in between them. Shadow gave an annoyed meow and jumped on the couch's arm.

"Ah, good things, I hope?" Sirius said. "Hey, you two don't need to move that far, or are you implying that I have a fat arse?"

Sirius sat down, lips puckered into a pout. Remus looked at him affectionately. Sirius's friendship was so much more important to Remus than what he reasonably considered to be no more than a teenager's crush. It would probably pass by soon, and in the meantime, he was determined to be the best friend to Sirius he could be. Even if that meant having to watch Sirius and Venus get together.

"No, your bum is just perfect, Princess." Venus patted Sirius's knee reassuringly, grinning.

Remus couldn't help but sniggered. Sirius's eyes narrowed for a second, but then he smirked at Venus.

"Oh, well, _you_ 'd know, considering how much time you spend checking it out," Sirius said.

Venus tutted, but didn't say anything. Sirius was still smiling devilishly.

"Don't do it, Sirius," Remus said.

"Do what?" Sirius said, frowning. "I haven't done anything!"

Remus patted Sirius's shoulder patiently, like a teacher well used to misbehaving six-years-olds.

"That face doesn't bode well," Remus said.

"It's just my face."

"Exactly," Remus said.

Venus chuckled. Remus wondered if Sirius had noticed the adorable dimples that appeared on her face when she smiled.

"What are you doing here, anyway, weren't you with James?" Venus said.

"He kicked me out of the dormitory," Sirius said, sniffing. "Said he wanted to spend some 'alone time' with Lily up there. They're probably snogging, or _worse_."

Remus resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"You're the one who was pushing James to do just that," Remus said.

"Yeah, but that was back when I didn't realise that meant he'd be spending almost _all_ of his time with her and not me," Sirius said.

Shadow stepped over its owner to come and settle on Sirius's lap, where it curled up in a ball and began purring.

"Sirius, don't be such a baby," Venus said. "He's got the right to have a girlfriend."

"It'll be okay, Padfoot," Remus said. "It makes sense you feeling that way now, but you'll get used to it, don't worry. Besides, the most important is that Prongs's happy, isn't it? And come on, we still spend a fair amount of time just the four of us."

Sirius sighed and then smiled at Remus.

"I guess," Sirius said. "It's just, he's already abandoning us next weekend in Hogsmeade, he's going with Lily. _I_ 'm a good friend though, I got asked out and said no."

"Really? And who asked you out this time?" Remus said.

Remus knew that Venus would want to know but was too proud to ask. Remus himself wasn't that curious; it wasn't the first nor last time a girl was asking Sirius out. Sometimes, it was someone Sirius didn't even know existed.

"Amelia Selwyn. Sixth year Ravenclaw, tall, er - yeah. I'd never even noticed her before today, can't really remember what she looks like already."

"A Selwyn?" Venus said, wrinkling her nose. "Yeah, I think I know who she is. I didn't think she'd go for someone like you."

"There seems to be something about Sirius that attracts all kinds of people," Remus said.

"You got it, Moony. I can't help it," Sirius said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Sexy's my middle name."

Venus and Remus shared a look, somewhere between amusement and annoyance.

"I doubt that Sirius Sexy Black would look good on your family tree," Remus said.

Venus laughed, her dark hair falling over her eyes as she lowered her head to pet her cat. Remus grinned. Making her laugh made up for the post-full moon pain in his muscles.

"Speaking of Toujours Pur, I'm pretty sure that Selwyn girl's part of Puritas," Venus said.

"Yeah, I thought so," Sirius said, looking at Remus. "That's why I said no."

"Yes, clearly _that'_ s why," Remus said drily.

Remus looked into Sirius's eyes, trying to use the telepathic powers James and Sirius seemed to have. _Tell her that's not why you said no_ , _that she's the reason why you'd have said no to anyone_ , Remus thought. Sirius brushed the hair out of his eyes and then looked around the common room.

"Where's Wormtail, by the way?" Sirius said.

The telepathy thing clearly didn't work for Remus; or Sirius was just too stubborn to follow his advice.

"With Anna working on their Transfiguration assignment," Remus said.

"How's yours going? Has Gamp warmed up to you yet?" Sirius said, smirking.

Remus shuddered at the thought of Cassandra Gamp, who he had met with once a week since September. He had figured the earliest they would start, the earliest they would finish, and he couldn't wait to be done with it. At least, they had agreed on not bothering with small talk, and talking only about the assignment, so that they didn't have to pretend they enjoyed spending time with each other. But even so, Cassandra's goggly eyes shot daggers at him every time she saw him, as if he was an annoying little fly she couldn't wait to kill with her bare hands.

"He's terrified of her," Sirius said to Venus.

"Poor Remus." Venus reached out behind Sirius to pat Remus's shoulder.

"She usually looks like she wants to stab, bite or hex me," Remus said. "So, please, let's change the subject."

 _"_ Well, speaking of things that bite, I've just got a letter from my mum and for some reason, she's decided to get a dog," Venus said.

Venus made a face.

"What's wrong with that? You should be happy," Sirius said.

"No, seriously, a dog! A big, loud, smelly _dog_."

Venus wrinkled her nose, and Remus snorted at the crestfallen look on Sirius's face.

"You… You don't like dogs?" Sirius said, his voice strangled.

"Not really, I'm a cat person, you know. Except for the small dogs, I guess they're okay, but you've got to keep them really clean. It's just, dogs are so smelly, and so clingy, you know?"

Remus was shaking with silent laughter, collapsing on Sirius's shoulder.

"They're not clingy, they're _loyal_!" Sirius said, his voice rising. "I can't believe… Have you ever even had a dog?"

"No, but -"

"Then you don't know how awesome they are. I'm sure you'd like them. It's just because you haven't met -"

"Stop it, Sirius," Remus said.

Remus knew Sirius was going to say, 'it's just because you haven't met Padfoot yet.'

"Why are you getting so worked up about this, anyway?" Venus said, frowning. "No need to go into hysterics."

"Sirius needs to go into hysterics at least once a week, it's part of his religion," Remus said.

Now Venus was laughing, too. Sirius turned towards Remus, pretending to be affronted. But Remus could tell that Sirius was trying hard not to join in. Small crinkles had appeared at the corners of his eyes, like when they shared a whispered joke during class and couldn't laugh out loud.

"Moony, stop taking the piss and support me," Sirius said.

"Come on, Venus, dogs are nice. Okay, they can be loud and smelly, but some humans are, too, and _sometimes_ they bite."

Remus glared pointedly at Sirius. During one of their games at the last full moon, Padfoot had left quite a deep bite mark on Remus's calf.

"But they're also really fun, loyal and kind. They care about you and protect you."

"That's very nice of you to say, Remus, at least I still have one good friend," Sirius said. "Please tell me _you_ 're not going on a date in Hogsmeade."

"Of course not. Although someone did ask me."

"Moony, you little sly fox!" Sirius chuckled and clapped Remus on the shoulder. "You hadn't told me that!"

"It was a bit embarrassing," Remus said.

"Why did you say no?" Venus asked.

"Because: one, you both know the main reason. Two, she's so small that my neck hurt after one minute of talking to her. Three, that might be because she's in third year."

Sirius and Venus burst out laughing.

"Bad luck, Moony," Sirius said.

Sirius looked straight ahead of him at something or someone across the room, scowled and put his arm around Venus's shoulder.

"Venus, are you sure you and James made the right choice with that Newton bloke?"

Eric Newton was the new Chaser, recruited in a hurry to take Brody's place. He was in sixth year and Remus had never really spoken with him. Remus saw him sitting with Sophie Gardiner and Matthew Hawkins. He wondered what Sirius thought was wrong with Newton.

"Why?" Remus said. "Isn't he a good Chaser?"

"Do you even care?" Venus said.

"No," Remus admitted, smiling.

"He keeps staring," Sirius said.

"What are you on about?" Venus said. "Staring at who?"

"What do you think?" Sirius said.

Venus shrugged off Sirius's arm.

"It's probably in your head," Venus said. "He seems like a decent bloke. And a very good Chaser. Better than Brody ever was, actually."

Venus looked saddened at the thought of Brody. Sirius put his arm around her again and this time she placed her head on Sirius's shoulder. The memory of James telling them all about Brody was still very fresh in their minds. Whenever one of them had to mention Brody, there was a collective shudder and a lapse in the conversation.

"It'll be okay," Sirius said.

They remained silent for a while, distractedly watching a group of second years bickering loudly over a game of Exploding Snap. Remus briefly considered using his Prefect prerogatives to tell them off, but he just couldn't be bothered right now. Then Venus straightened up and Sirius retrieved his arm.

"Sirius, can you help me with my Transfiguration homework?" Venus said.

"Yeah, no problem. I was brought into this world to share my genius."

"No, Sirius, you were brought into this world because your parents had sex," Venus said.

Sirius gasped and actually looked like he was about to be sick.

"Vance, that was a revolting image," Sirius said. "Take that back."

"Sorry, but it's true," Venus said.

"I don't care, my parents have never had sex," Sirius muttered. "Actually, they're never even naked. Because that would be just the most disgusting thing in the world."

"All right, so you and your brother appeared out of thin air, Padfoot," Remus said.

Venus was trying not to laugh. Her hand reached out to stroke Sirius's hair and the back of his neck. Gradually the disgusted look disappeared from Sirius's face and he closed his eyes, smiling slightly. Remus looked away, feeling like he was intruding. Just when he was starting to consider going to the library, Peter and Anna entered the common room. Remus watched, relieved, as Peter walked towards them and sat down on the floor, near Sirius's and Venus's feet. Since becoming an Animagus, Peter had developed a strange fondness for sitting on the floor.

"Where's Prongs?" Peter asked.

"He's with Lily," Remus said quickly, before Sirius could say something more compromising.

"Er, Peter," Venus said. "I'm wearing a skirt, so, I'm not one hundred per cent comfortable with your position here."

Peter startled, and his face turned red as he looked up at Venus.

"Merlin!" Peter said, shuffling away from her and closer to Remus. "Sorry, I hadn't realised -"

"I know, Pete," Venus said gently. "It's ok, I know you weren't looking."

"It's not fair," Sirius said. "If it was me you'd already be reporting me to McGonagall for harassment."

"It's not the same," Peter said, looking up at Sirius. "I don't look at her that way, really. I know it's silly, but I can't bring myself to fancy girls who are taller than me. So maybe that's why. No offence, Venus."

"None taken," Venus said pleasantly.

"You're weird, Wormtail," Sirius said.

Peter shrugged and before he could say anything, Brody was standing in front of them, his breathing ragged and his cheeks a bright shade of pink.

"I know you guys aren't speaking to me," Brody said, in a clipped voice. "And I'm not asking you to. But we still share the same room. Can you please ask James to give us advance warning if he's going to er, do things in our dormitory? I've just walked in on him and Lily and the whole thing was just really embarrassing."

"I'm not your fucking owl, MacDougal," Sirius snarled. "You can tell him yourself."

"Sirius, he's got a point," Remus said mildly. "It's his dormitory, too. Besides, none of us want to walk in on that, so if it's going to happen, we'll have to come up with some kind of sign or something."

Sirius shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Brody until he retreated to the other side of the common room.

* * *

Upstairs, Lily and James were lying down on James's bed. They had only got as far as James taking off Lily's shirt and bra, when Brody had come in the dormitory. Even though Brody had not seen anything thanks to the bed's curtains, it had been quite clear to him what was happening. Brody had let out a "oh" of surprise, muttered something under his breath and ran out. James was trying to see the funny side of it, but Lily was so obviously embarassed that James started to feel bad about it, too.

"I can't believe this just happened," Lily said as she got dressed.

"It's not that bad, Lily flower. It's not like Brody's going to tell everyone about it. Not if he wants us to keep quiet about his little secret."

Lily lay down next to James again, with her back to him. He put his arm around her and buried his face in her hair.

"And the fact that it was Brody makes it even worse… James, what if he thinks that because I'm Muggle-born -"

"I couldn't care less about what he thinks!" James said in a heated voice. "Don't let people like him get into your head, please. You are the most wonderful person ever, among witches, wizards, and Muggles. No one should ever make you doubt that."

Lily smiled, her eyes filling up with tears. She grabbed James's hand and kissed it. Her stroked her hair in silence for a while, lost in thoughts.

"Listen, I want our first time to be as relaxing as possible," James said. "Since we'll already be nervous, there's no point being also nervous about someone walking in on us. I have an idea, but I don't know if it will be too adventurous for you."

"Try me."

"We're looking for a place where we could have some privacy, right? Next weekend we're going to Hogsmeade. And, well, the Three Broomsticks's not just a pub, it's also an inn."

"James! You're not suggesting -"

"I know it's a bit out there," James said. "But at least, no risk of being interrupted."

Lily thought about it for a moment.

"It's nothing illegal, sweetheart," James said, grinning.

"I know… All right, let's do it."

"Yeah?" James said, an excited grin still lighting up his face.

Lily turned to face him and kissed his lips. When she pulled away, he stared at her so intensely that she shuddered slightly.

"What?" Lily said.

"I'm quite sure I'm the luckiest bloke in the world."

"Someone's catching up on the smooth-talking," Lily said, smiling fondly. "You see, you're good at it, after all."

"I mean it, though. I'm so glad you gave me a chance, Lily Evans."

* * *

The next day, Gryffindor won against Slytherin, with Lawrence Corner catching the Snitch. James was grateful for Venus taking a big piece of the Captain responsibilities, as for once his mind was not on the Quidditch, but on the upcoming day in Hogsmeade. The week between the match and the Hogsmeade visit seemed to take forever to pass by. When the day finally arrived, James was the first one to be ready to go.

"Have a nice day, Prongs," Remus said.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Sirius said, winking.

"Oh, anything goes, then," James said, sniggering. "All right, I'll see you later."

James bounced down the staircase to the common room, where he impatiently waited for Lily to arrive. Then, everything seemed to happen extremely fast. Lily and James walked to Hogsmeade hand in hand, went to ask Madam Rosmerta for a room with Lily blushing furiously, had lunch and went for a walk. They disappeared under James's Invisibility Cloak and entered the Three Broomsticks again, taking tiny steps towards the door and then up the stairs, narrowly missing bumping into students a few times. James took the key Madam Rosmerta had given him and they stepped in the bedroom, collapsing into laughter as soon as they had closed the door behind them.

"That was actually a lot of fun," Lily said, grinning.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?" James said, taking off his coat. "Otherwise, you know we can wait and -"

"We've already talked about it," Lily said softly, and sounding more confident than she felt. "I'm ready and I'm sure. Come here."

As Lily had expected, their first time was a rather clumsy and quick affair. Afterwards, they cuddled underneath the blankets, feeling warm in spite of the cold temperature of the small room. It smelt of fresh laundry and reminded Lily of her bedroom at home, with its exposed beams and its unpretentious white walls.

"I know this ended pretty quick, so how about we give it a second go?" James said, sounding the opposite from the arrogant fifteen-year-old who used to drive Lily crazy.

Lily chuckled and kissed him, pulling him closer to her. He gently rolled her over on her back so that he was on top of her.

"I know we're new at this and need some practice," James said a few minutes later, after he had rolled over to her side. "But I think we've got loads of potential."

Lily grinned back at him and snuggled up against him.

"I look forward to practicing with you," Lily said.

"By the way, seems like you're quite fond of my hair now?"

"Shut up, Potter," Lily said, glaring at him and trying to keep a straight face.

"Make me, Evans."

* * *

Meanwhile, downstairs of the Three Broomsticks, as Peter and Remus went to order drinks, they found Venus standing alone at the bar. She explained to them that she was supposed to spend the day with Anna, Mary and Callie, but that her friends had started talking with a group of four Hufflepuff boys. Venus didn't feel like staying in what was starting to feel like a quadruple forced date.

"Do you want to join us?" Remus said.

"You guys wouldn't mind?" Venus asked.

"It'd be nice," Peter said, smiling.

Venus glanced at Sirius, who was sitting at a table, looking at them.

"Lover boy will be happy about it," Remus said.

Peter sniggered.

"Lover boy?" Peter said.

"Our secret nickname for Sirius," Remus said, exchanging an amused glance with Venus. "Better not use it in front of him, though."

"Oh, he'd be mortified," Peter said, and then grinned. "Brilliant."

Peter looked happy to have been let in on a secret nickname. Venus stopped by her friends' table to let them know she would see them later at the castle, and then they went to join Sirius.

"Thanks again for the offer," Venus said, nodding at Remus and Peter. "That Hufflepuff bloke was such a drag. Apparently he's not one of the many people who are under the impression that Sirius's my boyfriend."

"In that case, I'm sorry I took you out on a date with these two," Sirius said, gesturing to Remus and Peter. "What a crappy fictional boyfriend I am."

"Thanks," Remus said. "Sirius's just got a way to make us feel appreciated, doesn't he, Peter?"

Peter shared a look with Remus, but the other two were oblivious to his sarcasm.

"Those stupid rumours. Can't do anything without people spreading gossip," Venus sighed.

"Yeah, it's definitely not easy being us," Sirius said, nodding.

"For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo," Remus muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What?" Sirius said.

Remus smiled archly.

"Muggle book," Remus said. "Nevermind."

"Well, today, please treat me as one of you," Venus said, and took a large gulp of her beer.

"You mean, as if you were a bloke?" Peter said.

"Yeah," Venus nodded. "Exactly."

"We've got to find you a new name, then," Peter said.

"Vince?" Remus said.

"Good one, Moony," Peter said.

Venus was glad to see that Peter was starting to be able to have proper conversations with her now. Peter used to be quite tong-tied around Lily and her, but since they had started spending more time with the boys, he seemed to have overcome that. Venus actually found him to be good company, if a bit too inclined to please.

"I miss Prongs," Sirius said, sighing. "Wonder what he's doing right now."

"Snogging Lily, probably," Peter said.

"I can't believe he's ditched me for a _girl_ ," Sirius said, crossing his arms over his chest, and then glanced at Venus. "No offence."

Venus shrugged.

"You'd better get used to it, Sirius," Venus said. "I think James and Lily might just stay the distance. They'll probably end up married with kids or something."

"Married? Kids?" Sirius made a face, and took a large gulp of beer. "Bloody hell."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Remus said, patting Sirius's arm. "I'll be available to spend time with you."

"You never know, Remus, one day some lucky girl might snatch you away and finally convince you of your worth," Venus said, smiling.

"And how would that work exactly? 'Remus, are you free to meet this Saturday?', 'Sorry, darling, I'll be busy transforming into a wolf that night. Can we do Tuesday instead?'"

Both Sirius and Peter laughed, clearly used to Remus joking about his lyncathropy, but Venus didn't. She tugged at the collar of her bottle green jumper, narrowing her eyes.

"I see there's no point arguing with you on this again, Remus. You're bloody stubborn, you know that?"

Venus raised her glass, and Sirius and Peter raised theirs too.

"To Remus's future wife," Venus said, stony-faced, as if she was delivering a proper wedding toast. "May she have the patience of a saint."

Sirius and Peter clinked their glasses with Venus's. Remus was shaking his head.

"To my non-existing future wife," Remus said, raising his own glass.

"Be careful," Venus said. "I could marry you just to make you shut up."

"I'll take that risk," Remus shrugged, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards.

"Oh, yeah, that's the kind of 'risk' I'd be willing to take as well," Peter said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, I don't know if I'll ever get married," Venus said thoughtfully. "It's too… conventional for me."

"Cheers to that, Vince," Sirius said, raising his glass again, and gulping down the rest of his beer. "All right, I'm going to get some water at the bar. Can I get any of you another drink?"

Remus and Peter shook their heads.

"No, thanks, mate," Venus said.

Sirius made a face and laughed.

"The 'mate' was too much?" Venus said, smiling.

As the afternoon was drew to a close, they decided to go for a walk. There were moments when the sun hid behind clouds and the chilly wind became too much for the walk to be a totally pleasant experience. They were just considering popping in Zonko's shop for a bit, when they crossed paths with a small group of Slytherin students and one of them tripped Venus and she found herself on the ground. Muttering swear words, she looked up to see a familiar pair of grey eyes staring at her. She gasped as she realised it was not Sirius. Regulus Black was a smaller, more slender version of Sirius, like a version of Sirius that had not fully blossomed. Regulus held out his hand to help her up.

"Don't touch her," Sirius snapped.

Venus felt hands underneath her armpits and she was lifted up onto her feet. Sirius's hands, as they usually did these days, lingered a bit longer than necessary. She saw Regulus had noticed it, too.

"We don't need any help from people like you, thank you very much," Sirius said. "Now why don't you go and join your little friends? I must say I'm surprised your new best friend MacDougal isn't with you."

"He's not really my friend," Regulus said coldly, staring into Sirius's eyes.

Sirius's hand was inside his coat's pocket where his wand was, ready to use it if necessary.

"Don't you have Muggles to bully or animals to torture?" Sirius snarled.

Regulus tore his gaze away from Sirius at last and looked at Venus. The wind hissed violently.

"You know, one day he'll just leave and break your heart," Regulus said quietly, looking straight into Venus's eyes. "Because that's what he does."

Venus shuddered. There was something in Regulus's eyes that frightened her. Perhaps it was the sadness in them, which she had not expected to find.

"Don't worry about my heart, Black," Venus said. "And get the hell out of my face."

The three Slytherins accompanying Regulus started muttering about blood traitors. Remus grabbed Sirius's and Venus's arms.

"Let's go," Remus said firmly, and they headed towards the high street without looking back.

Sirius spent the following five minutes rambling about Regulus. So when Venus stopped to look at the window of a shop, they were all grateful for the distraction. Although Venus told them she felt guilty for bringing them to a clothes shop, the three boys convinced her that no, they did not mind and yes, she should definitely try on that dress. But Sirius realised only when Venus came out of the changing rooms that maybe it was much more of a distraction than they had signed up for.

"Oh, dear," Remus said.

"Oh fucking dear," Sirius said.

If it had been feasible to almost forget Venus was a girl for the past couple of hours, while she was wearing her school trousers and jumper, it was impossible now. Oblivious to the boys' stares, Venus stood looking at herself in the mirror, turning from side to side. The black dress fitted her perfectly, with its golden strass around the low-cut neckline and the cross back straps.

"You look absolutely gorgeous," said the shop assistant, gushing. "Fits you like a glove. Don't you think?"

"I'm not sure," Venus said. "It _is_ very nice, but I don't know if I'll actually wear it, you know? I don't usually wear dresses like that, it just doesn't feel very me."

Sirius cleared his throat as he pattered towards her.

"It'd be a crime for you not to wear it. If you don't buy it, I'll buy it for you," Sirius said.

"Don't you have a nice boyfriend!" said the shop assistant cheerfully. "Mine won't even buy me flowers!"

Neither Venus nor Sirius bothered correcting her, whereas months, or maybe even weeks ago they would have jumped down her throat.

"You don't even know how much it is," Venus said, turning to smile at Sirius.

"It's worth it for sure," Sirius said. "And you can wear it during the holidays, like for New Year's Eve, or something."

"I guess," Venus said, turning again to take another look in the mirror. "All right, I'll take it."

The shop assistant smiled happily.

"What's this?" Sirius said, approaching her from behind and gently moving one of the cross back straps of the dress.

Somewhere near her right shoulder blade he could see an intricate symbol in black ink.

"That's called a tattoo, Sirius," Venus said, chuckling.

"Just when I thought you couldn't possibly get any hotter. When did you get it?"

"Last summer. Kind of a coming of age present to myself."

"What does it represent?" Peter said.

Peter was peering at them curiously, Remus behind him.

"It's the letter V in ancient runes," Venus said.

"Ancient runes? That's the kind of tattoo Moony would get," Sirius said.

"If Moony ever got a tattoo," Peter said.

"Yeah, when pigs fly," Sirius said, sniggering.

But Remus still hadn't said anything. He was standing behind Peter and was trying not to stare at Venus too obviously.

"I like that symbol, I think it's pretty," Venus said.

"It's funny, Sirius, I just remembered what you said once when you were drunk," Peter said, grinning. "You said, if any woman's going to 'tie me down', your words, she's going to have a tat-"

"Shut up, Wormtail," Sirius said quickly, turning to scowl at Peter.

"I'm just saying, she's got a tattoo," Peter said. "And a -"

"Shut _up_ ," Sirius said, his cheeks flushing.

Venus looked flustered, too. She had crossed her arms over her chest and was looking around her as if looking for an escape route.

"We'd better be off soon. I'm going to change," Venus said.

Sirius muttered reproaches to Peter, while the shop assistant busied herself around them, folding jumpers. A moment later, they heard Venus's voice from the changing rooms.

"Er, I'm going to need a bit of help getting out of this!"

Remus, Peter, Sirius all looked at each other. After a moment of hesitation, Sirius trotted towards the changing rooms.

"How can I help?" Sirius said to the curtain, behind which he knew Venus was standing.

"Sirius, is that you? What do you think you're doing? I was speaking to the lady from the shop!"

Sirius blushed, relieved she couldn't see his face.

"Ah, yes," Sirius said. "Obviously. Er, I'll go and get her."

Sirius went to get the shop assistant, while Remus and Peter sniggered.

"You knew that's what she meant?" Sirius said.

"Yes, I thought this was what she meant," Remus said, grinning.

"You idiots," Sirius said.

"I don't think we were the idiots here," Peter said, chuckling.

When they left the shop, they almost bumped into Lily and James, walking hand in hand down the high street.

"Oh, hello," James said, grinning broadly. "Have you girls been shopping?"

"Ha ha," Sirius said. "Very funny. I think I recognise your face… Wait, aren't you the bloke who used to be my best friend?"

"Sirius, I wish I could take a picture of your face right now," Lily said, giggling.

"And where have you two been?" Sirius said.

Sirius circled around Lily and James, sniffing.

"You've had sex!" Sirius exclaimed.

"No, we haven't," Lily said automatically, her face reddening. "Why on earth would you say that?"

James's ears went bright pink as Sirius grinned at him.

"Damn his sense of smell," James muttered.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong if you have," Sirius said. "Come on, tell Uncle Sirius everything."

"Padfoot, don't be creepy and leave them alone," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"I will, if they'll just admit they did it," Sirius said.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest, staring back at Sirius stubbornly, her cheeks still flushed. James sighed.

"Fine, okay, we did," James said. "You didn't have to put us on the spot like that!"

"James!" Lily exclaimed. "I don't -"

"I'm very proud of you right now, Prongs," Sirius said.

"Where did you do it, though?" Peter said, looking around as if James and Lily had been hiding somewhere on the street.

"No questions," James said. "Can we move on from this?"

"You do raise an important question, Peter," Sirius said earnestly.

Peter smiled proudly. Venus grabbed Remus's arm and started walking.

"Come on, Remdear, let's go back to the castle," Venus said. "As the only reasonable people here, we should lead the way."

"Oh, Remdear, that's adorable," Lily said, as the rest of the group followed suit. "I've got to start calling you that, Remus."

"How come no one comes up with an adorable nickname for me, too?" Sirius said, pouting.

"Hey! _I_ came up with Padfoot," James said, his brow furrowed in protest.

"No offence, Prongs, but I'd rather not be given another 'adorable nickname' by someone who calls his girlfriend Lilybug."

"She likes it," James said.

"Apparently she does," Sirius said, winking.

Sirius was grateful to Remus, Peter and Venus for the tacit understanding between them that they would not mention their encounter with Regulus and the other Slytherins. Being with James again helped him a great deal in forgetting the look on his brother's face. And teasing James and Lily was a good way to distract his friends' attention.

"Oh, my word," Lily said. "He's going to be insufferable now, isn't he?"

"'Going to'?" Venus said.

"Good point," Lily said.

Within minutes, two groups had naturally formed, with the four boys walking ahead and the two girls behind them. Venus was just thinking she overall had had a very nice day, when Brody appeared from behind them and touched her shoulder.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Brody asked.

Lily increased her pace to catch up with the boys, her expression unusually fierce. Venus hesitated for a second. She had not really talked with Brody since learning he was the chair of Puritas, preferring to simply avoid him. But she had many questions for him, which she felt the need to ask one day, if not right now.

"If you must," Venus said coolly.

Brody's face was extremely pale. There was an urgency in his eyes, and he had an expression of fear mixed with hostility which was akin to Regulus's.

"It's not really my fault," Brody whispered. "I think… I think someone's making me do things."

"What do you mean?" Venus said sharply. "Don't tell me a Death Eater has -"

"No," Brody said, shuddering. "Not like that. It's more like… I don't know how to explain it, but I just wanted you to know."

"To know what? I don't understand!"

But Brody shook his head, and accelerated his pace to join the group of Ravenclaws. Venus pulled her coat closer around her, shivering in the wind.

"You all right there, Princess?" Sirius said, stopping so she could catch up with him.

"Yeah, thanks. He's just so strange… I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Has he said something to you? 'Cause if he has, I can -"

"No, don't," Venus said. "He says someone's making him do things… Any idea what he meant by that?"

Sirius shrugged.

"I'm sure Regulus would say our parents are making him do things," Sirius said. "But well, they didn't make _me_ do the same. It's all a question of perspective. Don't let MacDougall get into your head."

Sirius squeezed her arm reassuringly, but she was unable to shake off the feeling of foreboding for the rest of the evening, even through Callie's giggly questioning of Lily about her afternoon with James.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"I think I've pulled a muscle while throwing the Quaffle," Venus said, wincing and rotating her right shoulder, as she walked into the changing rooms. "Somewhere between my shoulder blades. I need the pain to get better before I can walk all the way to the hospital wing. I can't reach it myself. I'd ask Sophie but she isn't here today, so… James, can you please do it?"

Venus gestured to the cabinet where a few emergency supplies were stored, including the muscle relaxant ointment that was sometimes used by Beaters and Chasers. James ran a hand through his hair, frowning.

"Er, I'm not sure Lily would like me touching your back while you're wearing only your bra and we're alone," James said.

"If you make it sound like that, yeah," Venus said. "But actually you'd just be helping a friend who's in pain. Come on, please? It really hurts."

James looked at Sirius, who was hovering near them, pretending not to be listening to their conversation and not fooling anyone. The rest of the Quidditch team left the changing rooms, arguing about who was the worst Seeker in the school.

"Look, I think it's better if Sirius does it. Plus, he's really good at massages," James said.

Venus snorted. She then tied her hair up in a bun, wincing in pain in the process.

"Yeah, right," Venus said. "Listen, at this point I don't really care who does it, will one of you please just do it?"

"Come on, it's not such a big deal," Sirius said, shrugging. "I can do it."

"Great, you don't need me, then. Hope you feel better soon, V," James said, quickly gathering his things and heading towards the door. "I've just remembered Lily's waiting for me to work on that Charms essay, I'd better hurry up. See you later."

The door closed behind James and Venus shook her head.

"He's always been a terrible liar," Venus said.

Sirius went to fetch the ointment in the cabinet, while Venus stared resolutely at the wall opposite her.

"I don't think James was lying about Lily not liking it, though," Sirius said. "If I were her, I wouldn't like my boyfriend to rub a hot girl's back while she's half naked."

"You make it sound even more dirty than James did," Venus said. "Seriously, just imagine you're a Healer or something. Or, I don't know, imagine I'm Snape."

"If you were Snape, I wouldn't be putting my hands on your back. Disgusting."

Venus turned her back to Sirius and raised her arms to take off her jumper. She groaned in pain and lowered her arms, massaging her neck.

"Shit," Venus said. "Now my neck hurts as well, and taking this jumper off is like torture."

"Maybe if I help you, you won't have to raise your arms as much and it won't be that painful."

Venus tried rotating her head left and right, but found it only seemed to increase the pain. She sighed, admitting defeat.

"Go on, then."

He grabbed the jumper and gently pulled up. It was an intricate process, which involved much cursing and grunts of pain on Venus's part and awkward moves on Sirius's.

"I've got to admit, this isn't exactly the way I imagined taking your clothes off for the first time," Sirius said.

"Sirius, please, if you say things like that I don't think I'll be able to relax."

"Sorry, you're absolutely right. I'll behave now."

"And don't look," Venus said.

"Of course I won't look. I don't even want to look."

They repeated the process with Venus's t-shirt, Sirius's hand shaking slightly as he tossed the t-shirt to the side. He took a deep breath and gently ran his finger over the tattoo on Venus's shoulder blade.

"Right," Sirius said, trying to sound like what was happening was perfectly banal. "So where does it hurt, exactly?"

Sirius worked in silence for a while, imagining Venus was the ugliest and worst person in the world. This actually went too far as it led him to think of Snape, so he shook his head and stared at the clasp of Venus's black bra to banish all thoughts of Snape. His tactic backfired on him when Venus moaned softly as he rubbed a tight spot between her shoulder blades. Now all he could think about was unhooking the bra and grabbing her breasts.

"No, no, you can't do that," Sirius said.

"Do what?"

"You can't moan like that. I'm really trying to behave here."

"Oh, sorry," Venus said. "I didn't even realise… You're better at this than I expected. I think you can stop now, though. The pain's much better."

Sirius went to the bathroom to wash his hands, and when he came back Venus was still standing there with her back turned.

"What are you doing?" Sirius said.

He couldn't help but hope for a second that she hadn't put her clothes back on because she had the same idea as him, even if he knew the chances of that were extremely thin.

"Waiting for the cream's effects to fully kick in before I can put my clothes back on without suffering," Venus said. "I think one or two more minutes should do it."

Sirius waited while she put her clothes back on, apparently without too much difficulty.

"Thank you very much, Sirius. Actually, I've got to admit it was much, much nicer than if James had done it."

"You're welcome," Sirius said, smiling. "It wasn't exactly a chore for me, you know. How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you. And, you know, you're not the only one here who had other ideas," Venus said, stepping closer to him. "Once the pain started getting better, all I could think about was doing this."

Venus pinned Sirius against the wall and kissed him. He pressed his body against hers, his hands stroking her back before sliding down to grab her buttocks.

"Maybe you should tell me to stop?" Sirius said, his voice so low it was almost a growl.

As he kissed her ear and then her neck, Venus moaned in a way that made Sirius go weak at the knees. After a while, she leant back, placing one hand on his chest to signal him to stop.

"OK, yeah, we should probably stop, I shouldn't risk hurting my back again."

"You're right," Sirius said, and he paused to catch his breath. "Can I ask you something, though?"

She nodded, playing with a strand of his hair.

"Can we not pretend that nothing happened, this time?"

"All right," Venus said, smiling. "And this time, let's really keep it to ourselves."

"Touché."

Venus turned and sat down on the bench, taking deep breaths. Sirius started pacing around the changing rooms, trying to make sense of his racing thoughts. It was in moments like this that he missed the sheer simplicity of his feelings when he transformed into a dog.

"So, what d'you reckon we should do, then?"

"I don't know, let's just see what happens, I guess," Venus said, not looking at him. "I don't think I'm ready to do anything more yet. I just wanted you to know that yes, I'm attracted to you."

"OK, for now it's enough for me to know you fancy the pants off me."

"You're going to be so cocky now," Venus said, and she sighed. "Well, even more than usual, I mean. I guess we'd better go soon, the effects of that cream don't last for too long."

"Sure. Just give me a minute to cool off, first."

Sirius helped Venus with her coat before putting his on, and then grabbed Venus's bag so that she wouldn't have to carry it.

"I'll take you to the hospital wing. Are you okay to walk?"

"Yes," Venus said, grinning, and she took Sirius's arm as they left the changing room and started walking towards the castle. "Thank you, you're a sweetheart."

"That makes me think I've been a little too kind. That's not good."

"I'm not going to lie, your whole bad boy thing's working on me. The leather jacket, the long hair, the motorbike… But it's good to know you can be sweet sometimes, too."

"Yeah, well, keep that to yourself, please, I've got a reputation to maintain," Sirius said, winking. "And about that, actually… You know, that Muggle girl I met last summer?"

"What about her?"

"I just want you to know, I don't usually do that. One-night stands, I mean. Not my thing."

"Okay," Venus said slowly.

"I don't know what you've heard, but I've only ever had -"

Sirius trailed off as he saw the Hufflepuff Quidditch team walking towards them, on their way to practice. Their captain looked at Sirius and Venus suspiciously.

"Didn't the Gryffindor practice finish half an hour ago? Or are there still some of you down there? We've booked the pitch."

"No, it's all yours," Sirius said.

"I got hurt, so Sirius's just helping me get to the hospital wing," Venus said.

"If that's what you call want to call it," said the Hufflepuff Seeker, smirking.

Venus let go of Sirius's arm and walked past them, continuing towards the castle. Sirius scowled at the Seeker and then hurried to catch up with Venus. They made the rest of the way in awkward silence.

"Oh, I'd almost forgotten Remus was here," Sirius said after they had stepped into the hospital wing, and he walked towards the bed where Remus was lying down. "Are you all right, Moony?"

"Tired but fine, thanks, Padfoot," Remus said quietly. "What are you doing here?"

"I've brought you company," Sirius said.

"I hurt my back while playing Quidditch," Venus said. "Is Madam Pomfrey around?"

"She said she'll be back in a moment," Remus said.

"Right, I guess I'll leave you to it, then," Sirius said.

"Sure, er, thanks, Sirius," Venus said.

Sirius and Venus both stood looking at Remus instead of at each other as they spoke.

"Not at all," Sirius said. "Well, I'll see you later, I guess."

Remus watched with a smile as Sirius walked away. Once the door had closed behind him, he looked at Venus, still grinning.

"What?"

"Told you. You two are more entertaining that the Daily Prophet's Wednesday soap opera. My brain's so slow today and I was so bored that I ended up reading it and believe me, you two are better. I could just feel the awkwardness. I'm kind of a specialist in that area."

Venus rolled her eyes and sighed. She rubbed her shoulder as she felt the pain coming back.

"Come on, be nice to me, please? It gets lonely in here, you know," Remus said.

"That's not fair, how can I be annoyed with you when you're an actual angel," Venus said as she sat down on the bed next to Remus's. "I wonder, can you ever be mean to someone? Has it ever happened?"

"Do you want me to be mean to you?"

"I didn't mean necessarily to me. Admit it - haven't you ever felt like slapping Sirius?"

Remus chuckled.

"I can't say it never crossed my mind."

"So how did you stop yourself?"

"I just reminded myself I was lucky to even have him as a friend," Remus said.

Venus shook her head, smiling.

"That's what I said. An angel. Your friends are lucky to have you, too."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the boys' dormitory, James and Lily were sitting on James's bed, taking a break from working on their Charms essays, which James had actually not been lying about earlier.

"I've received a letter from my parents," Lily said. "My sister's getting married next year, around Easter time. Her boyfriend's just proposed."

"Oh, that's nice," James said flatly. "Well, maybe if she's happy about the wedding she'll stop being a pest."

Lily and James had already had several conversations about Lily's family, and nothing Lily could say to explain or justify her sister's behaviour made any sense to James. It didn't help that he didn't have any siblings. The closest thing he had to a brother was Sirius, and he had never heard Sirius speak one bad word about him, except as a joke.

"I think you don't understand how she sees things," Lily said. "Or how her Muggle boyfriend sees things. I get it, it can't be easy for her having a witch for a sister and not have any powers yourself. You know what I mean?"

"I don't know," James shrugged. "I think you're the bee's knees, and I don't understand anyone who doesn't think you're amazing."

They smiled at each other. James really hoped Lily's family would like him and accept him, jealous sister included. He hoped they would think he was good enough for her, because there were days when he wasn't sure of it himself.

"Seriously," James said. "Don't ask me to understand your sister, 'cause I won't. But I think I can win her over, don't you?"

Lily's smile turned bitter.

"You don't know Petunia. I doubt it, but you know, we'll do our best, right?"

"Right. So what's the plan?"

Lily described the options, the safest being first introducing James during Sunday lunch at the Evans' house and then maybe try and meet Petunia with her fiancé separately, until they heard a knock on the door.

"Is it safe to come in?"

James rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Padfoot, you can come in. Everybody's fully clothed."

Sirius opened the door and smiled at them as he made his way towards his bed.

"So, how was it?" James said, smirking.

"How was what?" Sirius said, pretending to be looking for something in his bag.

"How's Venus? Did she appreciate your magic touch?" James said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Lily tried to keep a straight face.

"You really have a dirty mind, Prongs," Sirius said haughtily, and James snorted. "I did help her, she's better now and she's in the hospital wing. End of story. What about you two, lovebirds? I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

James and Lily shared a 'can-you-believe-him' look. Sirius stopped fiddling with his bag and sat down on his bed, slouching on a mountain of pillows.

"Thank Merlin he's not the one I'm introducing to my parents," Lily said. "My dad would have a fit after five minutes."

"Good, because I don't feel like being introduced to anyone's parents."

"To be fair, mothers usually like you," James said. "My mum loves you, of course, and Peter's mum seems to admire you as much as Peter does. Mrs Lupin's a bit worried about your influence on Remus, I think, but she's always smiling at you. And Venus's mum, well -"

"Vivian's got a bit of a crush on me, I know," Sirius said, grinning. "What a classy woman."

"I was going to say, she seems to know your type and what to expect from you," James said, rolling his eyes. "But you go ahead and believe whatever you want to believe, Padfoot."

"You know, Sirius, instead of fixating on James's relationship with me, maybe you could get your own girlfriend. For some reason, there's plenty of girls who'd be happy to oblige you. Just take your pick."

"Yeah, I know," Sirius said smugly. "And, not interested. Dating's massively overrated."

"Let it drop, Lily," James said. "He's a hopeless case. Those poor girls can't hold his attention for longer than five minutes."

There was a short silence in honour of Sirius's short attention span.

"Come to think of it," Lily said, tapping her chin with his fingers in mock earnestly. "I pity the girl that'll actually become your girlfriend. She'll have to put up with pranks -"

"So many pranks," James interrupted, nodding.

"And so much drama -"

"Not to mention, all the licking," James said, making a face and shuddering.

"Hey! Just because you and Moony don't appreciate my licking doesn't mean nobody else does."

"Peter doesn't like it, either," James said. "He's just too scared to admit it, he doesn't want to get bitten, too."

"I hope all that licking happens while you're in dog form?" Lily said, snorting.

"Of course, Lily! What do you think I'm doing, prostituting myself with my friends?"

"I don't know, Sirius. You four are really close."

"Don't tell me there's nothing going on in your dormitory!" James said. "Any late-night dares that went a little too far?"

"Pillow fights in your underwear?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Well," Lily said slowly, looking from James to Sirius. "There was that one time when Venus and I were a bit tipsy and we snogged. Just to see what it was like, you know."

Sirius stared open-mouth at her, looking like she had just revealed to him the eighth wonder of the world.

"Got you!" Lily said, laughing. "I was kidding."

Sirius emitted a groan of supreme disappointement and threw a pillow at Lily.

"Prongs, your girlfriend is plain cruel. You don't just shatter a man's dream like that, you know."

Lily turned to James, who had only partially managed to hide his disappointment.

"I kind of liked the image," James said sheepishly.

"Anyway, now you've said it, it's stored up in here," Sirius said, tapping his head. "Fantasies drawer."

"Bet your brain doesn't have a lot of drawers," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "And anyway, it didn't happen."

"Padfoot, there's no space for my girlfriend in your fantasies drawer. Are we clear on that?"

"Fine," Sirius said. "There'll be a faceless, anonymous, feisty red-head."

Lily sighed heavily.

"I guess I shouldn't have started this."

"You should think about the consequences of your actions, young lady," Sirius said.

Lily snorted.

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!"

"Ha ha," Sirius said. "Got any more puns, Evans?"

James looked from Sirius to Lily, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"I should have thought about it sooner!" James said. "Next to Sirius, I look like a catch to you, don't I?"

Lily laughed and kissed James's cheek.

"I suppose you could see it like that," Lily said, and she checked her watch. "Don't forget we're supposed to meet the prefects in fifteen minutes down in the Great Hall."

James nodded and grabbed his Head Boy badge from his nightstand, while Sirius sniggered. Every time James had to go and do something for his Head Boy role, Sirius made fun of him. Yes, James got it, at the beginning he had thought it was a joke himself, but now it was starting to slightly get on his nerves. After all, he thought he made a pretty good Head Boy, for someone who had spent half his life reinventing the rules.

"Sirius, it's been three months, will you let it go already?" James said, rolling his eyes.

"Never, my friend, never. So what, you're leaving me here all by myself?"

Sirius made puppy dog eyes at James, but the effect was lost on him, as he had seen that look about a million times.

"Wormtail's in the common room, isn't he?"

Sirius shrugged. Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you going to do?" Lily said.

"I'll stay here and do my homework, Mum, I swear," Sirius said, smirking.

Lily sighed, hands on her hips and head held high, looking every bit the motherly figure tired of her offspring's antics.

"If you call me Mum one more time, I'll hex you."

"She means it," James said earnestly. "Oh, and try to not set the dormitory on fire."

"I haven't done that in years," Sirius said. "Try giving me the benefit of the doubt, won't you?"

James and Lily left Sirius with the promise that James would be back within the next hour and yes, he would be spending time with Sirius and not Lily and yes, they would do something fun. When they entered the common room, they heard cries of protest and saw a small group of people gathered around an armchair. People moved over to let them pass and Lily's face fell as she saw Anna sitting on the armchair, crying.

"What happened? Anna?" Lily asked softly, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"That bastard Avery bumped into her on purpose, made her fall and called her a Mudblood," Callie said.

"And then he hexed her, and Professor MacMillan was there, and she told Anna she should watch where she's going, and she took ten points from Gryffindor!" Mary said.

There was a collective growl of rage. The group, which had been focused on Anna, was now looking at Lily and James expectantly.

"Is that true, Anna?" Lily said, and Anna nodded, her face very red. "And did... did Professor MacMillan see the whole thing?"

"Yes," Anna said quietly, looking at the floor. "She was right behind me."

"We'll come get you later and we'll go to McGonagall," James said in a heated voice. "Anna, you've got to tell her exactly what happened."

"I don't know, James," Anna said, her voice smaller than ever. "I don't want to cause any trouble -"

"Are you kidding me? You're not the one causing trouble! If teachers, not even the head of Slytherin, start tolerating this kind of behaviour, then things are even worse than I thought," James said grimly.

"Anna, it'll be fine," Lily said gently. "We'll be with you the whole time."

Lily tried to smile, but she had a bitter taste in her mouth. She wasn't as surprised as James was about Professor MacMillan. She had long wondered why Professor MacMillan didn't seem to like her, and suspected the reason why she favoured James, Peter, Sirius and Venus over the rest of the Gryffindor students from their year had something to do with blood status. And it was something that James, being a Pureblood, couldn't pick up on, even with the best intentions possible.

* * *

"What are you reading?"

Lily looked up from her battered copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ to see that Venus had sat down cross-legged on the edge of her bed. Lily took a look around the dormitory as if seeing it for the first time, so engrossed had she been in the book. She had been enjoying a quiet moment, in their little bubble, safe from the rest of the world. Callie was painting her nails, humming quietly to herself, while Anna and Mary sat huddled around the latest issue of _Witch Weekly_. A dozen days had passed since Avery had hexed Anna, and she was just starting to be back to her normal self. As Lily had expected, their visit to McGonagall's office had not let to anything, at least, as far as she knew. McGonagall had frowned and looked perplexed and had promised to have a chat with Professor MacMillan.

"Muggle book," Lily said. "One of my favourites."

"What's it about?"

Lily frowned. It wasn't in Venus's habits to enquire about books, especially Muggle ones. Lily closed the book, placed it on her bedside table and proceeded to give Venus a summary of the story.

"Well, that Mr Darcy sounds like a bit of a bastard," Venus said.

Lily had fallen in love with Mr Darcy when she was twelve years old. She was not going to let him down now; but she also knew that Venus tended to behave in contradiction to what she was told.

"Does he, now?" Lily said, with an arch smile. "Funny you should say that."

"Why?"

Lily had an essay to finish, and she didn't want to risk having a long discussion with Venus about pride or about prejudice.

"You should read it," Lily said, handing the book to Venus. "Here."

Venus picked up the book, holding it between her thumb and index finger as if it was a dangerous, slightly disgusting animal, eyeing it warily.

"It's not going to kill you," Lily said, trying not to laugh.

Venus sighed, but she was smiling slightly as she levitated the book with her wand until her own bedside table.

"All right, I'll give it a go and report back to you about that Mr Darcy."

Callie, Mary and Anna left the dormitory to go to the common room. As Lily told them she would join them later, she saw Venus had not moved and was staring off into space.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Lily asked gently.

Venus took a deep breath and cleared her throat, fiddling with the collar of her shirt as she finally looked at Lily.

"James," Venus said. "You two spending Christmas meeting the families and going to your sister's wedding together and all. Don't take this the wrong way, but… Don't you feel like you're rushing into things a bit? I mean, we're only seventeen."

It was the first time that Venus brought up the topic of James, since he and Lily had started dating. Lily didn't quite know what to answer, especially as sometimes she asked herself these very questions, at night as she stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, after the umpteenth report of an attack on Muggles.

"Especially with what's happening out there," Venus added.

But then, there were the other nights, where Lily fell asleep with a smile on her face, dreaming about her ideal wedding day with James. She didn't know if and when they would end up getting married, but it was nice to imagine it, anyway.

"I see your point," Lily said quietly. "But actually, I think that's exactly why we're thinking and acting as if we were a bit older. Yes, I may lose everything if something happens to me or to James and of course I'm scared. But I'm more afraid of not doing it now and regretting it later, if it's too late then. You know what I mean?"

Venus nodded slowly, frowning and looking like she was deep in her own thoughts.

"That's actually very brave of you," Venus said.

Lily said nothing, just smiled at her, and after a moment of silence Venus seemed back to her normal self.

"It is scary, though, isn't it? Being with someone?"

"Yes," Lily said. "It's scary, but it's wonderful. Although, to be honest, I do have doubts sometimes, and I don't have it all planned. It's not always a bed of roses."

Venus lay down on her bed, stretching her long legs.

"Venus, there's nothing wrong about liking someone," Lily said gently. "Obviously, there's nothing wrong with being single, either. I'm just saying, if you do like someone, it'd be a shame not to try and do something about it."

"Ugh," Venus said, wrinkling her nose. "Can you imagine me being all lovey-dovey with someone, like you and James?"

"I wouldn't say it's very easy to imagine," Lily said, chuckling. "But, yes. Why not, after all? And you don't need to act all 'lovey-dovey', by the way. You can just do things your way. Especially if you're with someone who's on the same page as you, and isn't into the traditional relationship stuff."

Venus rolled over on her side to face Lily, her eyebrows raised.

"What? I haven't said any name," Lily said, smirking.

"You might as well have," Venus said, rolling her eyes. "D'you think there are bets about he and I getting together or something?"

Venus looked annoyed, but Lily suspected that part of her actually enjoyed the attention.

"There probably are," Lily said. "Not that I'd know, mind you. It's not the kind of things people tell the Head Girl about."

Venus grinned.

"Were you aware of the bets about you and James earlier in the year?"

"What? No! Which bets?"

"Never mind, then," Venus said. "As you say, it's not something people would tell the Head Girl about. Are you going downstairs?"

"No, I think I'll stay here to work on my Potions essay. I know James's in the common room and if I go there, I know I won't end up doing much work."

Lily felt her cheeks redden. Venus still had that annoying grin on her face.

"Right," Venus said. "Good girl."

"I can't wait for the day you have a boyfriend, and I can get back to you on all the teasing," Lily said.

"Yeah, well, don't hold your breath for that, Little Red."

"We'll see about that," Lily said, smirking, as Venus walked away and opened the door. "Oh, and say hi to Sirius for me."

It seemed incredibly unfair to Lily that she blushed at the slightest emotion, whereas Venus's skin tone allowed her to not obviously betray any internal turmoils.

"I've no idea where Sirius is," Venus said with dignity. "I am going to the library."

Lily smiled broadly.

"Do you even know where that is?"

For a while, Venus wandered around the castle with no clear idea where she wanted to go. Just as she had decided to visit the owlery to check on Savannah, her family owl, and she was going up a staircase, she saw a group of a dozen Slytherin male students walking down the stairs. No one else was around, and she kept her head down as they passed each other, determined to not acknowledge them. But just as she had passed the last boys of the group, she heard one of them wolf-whistle.

"Tell you something, Vance, you've got a really nice ass," Mulciber said.

Venus jumped and turned around so fast that she felt slightly dizzy.

"Don't you look at me, you disgusting -"

"Save your breath, mate," Avery sneered. "She only does it with Sirius Black. Even in the Quidditch changing rooms, from what I've heard. I bet she's the kind of girl who can't get enough of it."

Venus felt like her stomach had jumped up to her throat. Avery's insinuations, if they could even be called insinuations at this point, made her sick, but not as much as the craving glint in Mulciber's cruel eyes as he stared at her.

"Your brother is a lucky bastard," Mulciber said, turning his head to look at someone behind him. "In every sense of the word."

Some of the boys snickered. Venus realised that Regulus was standing at the back of the group and that Mulciber's last words had been addressed to him. Regulus's head was hung and his long dark hair was partially hiding his face. Venus felt a flash of anger so strong that it made her forget to be afraid. She grabbed her wand and pointed it at Mulciber, which caused another round of laughter.

"Do you really think you can fight me, little girl?" Mulciber said.

Although Venus was tall, Mulciber was taller, and much bigger than her. He smirked as he looked down at her. Venus was on the verge of hexing him, but she knew she was outnumbered, and there was no way she could take the better of them. She slowly lowered her wand, gripping it so hard that her hand started hurting. She saw Snape, standing directly behind Mucilber and Avery. As Snape did not appreciate vulgarity, he was not laughing or smirking like most of the other boys in the group, but he was looking at Venus with a satisfied look on his face. She knew how much he disliked her and he was probably relishing in her humiliation.

"That's what I thought," Mulciber said. "Being part of Potter and Black's little clique doesn't mean you are worth anything. At least, not in the world we're building."

Venus wanted to insult them, but thought that they were not even worth speaking to. Before she could make up her mind, they had walked away, down the stairs and out of sight. Venus sat down, taking deep breaths and trying to feel proud of herself for not retaliating, but instead she just felt angry. Barely a minute had passed before she saw someone running up the stairs towards her.

"Come back for more, Black? Didn't you and your little friends have enough fun?"

Regulus stopped a couple of steps below her and looked at her. He was a bit out of breath, and his thin face was very white.

"I'm sorry," Regulus said. "I just wanted to check if you're all right. They shouldn't have said that, it was very… vulgar."

Regulus wrinkled his nose haughtily.

"Yes, it was," Venus said. "You should have said something earlier, though. It's a bit too late, now."

Regulus sighed and ran a hand though his hair.

"I know, but it's not… It's just easier to -"

"It's just easier to shut up and fit in, isn't it?" Venus said scornfully.

Regulus said nothing and played with his hair again. It was a similar length to Sirius's, but it was less thick and bright, so that the result was not nearly as nice.

"Are you trying to style your hair like Sirius's?"

For a moment, Venus thought he was going to deny it and snarl at her, but then he smiled. She realised she had never seen him smile properly before. He was actually quite good-looking, albeit in a rather androgynous way.

"Maybe," Regulus said. "Don't tell him."

She found herself smiling back at him. It was nice to know not even Regulus Black was immune to the universal urge to imitate an older sibling.

"Come on, let's get you up."

Venus grabbed Regulus's outstretched hand and he pulled her up on her feet. The sleeves of Regulus's robes rolled up and her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of red ink on his left arm. She let go of his arm as if she had been burnt, unable to hide the expression of shock and horror on her face.

"What the hell have you done?"

"It's a mark of honour," Regulus said pompously, looking proud of himself for the first time in the conversation. "I've got to prepare my life outside Hogwarts, and they said they'd help me, and that I could do great things."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure -"

"You could join," Regulus said. "It's like a network, you know, pure-bloods helping each other. We make sure we'll all get what we deserve. You don't want to be left behind. You are a Pureblood, after all."

Venus looked down at Regulus, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You're mental. You're mental, or you're spectacularly naive. Regulus, think about it. Don't just listen to what your parents say. Maybe it's not too late, maybe I can help you, maybe Sirius and I can convince you that -"

"Just because you're doing… things with my brother doesn't mean you can speak in his name," Regulus said, his face now bright pink. "I highly doubt he's interested in convincing me about anything."

He looked like a child pretending to be an adult, which was actually exactly what he was.

"I care about him, sorry for caring about you as well for a minute here. I won't make that mistake again."

"Very well," Regulus said stiffly. "I'll leave you alone, then."

Venus resisted the urge to call him and watched him walk away in silence. A small part of her couldn't believe what she had seen on Regulus's arm, could only remember his shy smile and his thin bones. She felt a strange need to protect him, to convince him. How nice it would be for Sirius to have his brother back. It was such a waste, Venus thought as she resumed climbing up the stairs to the owlery, it was all a big waste. Once she arrived there, she scribbled ' _Meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower at 6.45? - Venus_ ' on a spare piece of parchment, and sent Savannah to find Sirius. She walked around restlessly and was at the top of the tower before the given time. She kept thinking of Regulus's smile, and of the ink on his pale arm.

"What's up, Vance? Can't get enough of me, can you?"

Sirius smiled brightly as he strolled towards her. They hadn't had any occasion to be just the two of them since the day Venus had injured her back. She felt her heart beat faster at the sight of him, although she hated that she would have to wipe the smile off his face.

"It's absolutely freezing up here at this time of year, though," Sirius continued, while she still said nothing. "I know plenty of other places we could go that'd be warmer than this."

"Oh, I'm sure you do."

Venus was struggling to find the words to bring up the topic of Regulus, and Sirius made that even more difficult when he pulled her close to him.

"Wait, Sirius, don't…"

Sirius let go of her and took a step back, frowning. A long strand of hair fell over his eye and he tucked it away in a swift, impatient gesture.

"Isn't that why we're here?"

"Sorry, I can see now how you got that idea. I just… wanted to talk to you alone, and I couldn't think of any other place."

"Oh, I see," Sirius said slowly, leaning against the wall and folding his arms across his chest. "I thought we were both cool about not having that kind of conversation?"

Venus shook her head impatiently and started pacing nervously.

"We are. It's not about you and me. It's about… your brother."

There was a silence, and then a sharp, bark-like laughter. Venus turned towards where Sirius was standing and she was unable to read any expression on his face. The word 'brother' had closed the door firmly shut instantly.

"I wasn't expecting that. Look, whatever it is you want to say about him, I don't want to hear it."

Sirius turned his back to her and took a couple of steps towards the staircase.

"Wait, please! I promise, I'm not going to judge him, or you, or offer useless advice. I've just learnt something and I think you should know."

"I've just told you, I don't want to hear it," Sirius said coldly, his back still turned, but he had stopped walking.

"Sirius, he's joined the Death Eaters."

Sirius hung his head. Venus expected shock, anger, disbelief maybe, but not the derisive snort that she heard. Sirius finally turned to face her, staring at her defiantly.

"I know."

"What - really? How do you know?"

"My good friend Snape told me," Sirius snapped. "A couple of days ago. That slimy bastard was practically glowing when he told me the great news. I'm sorry if he's nicked a juicy piece of gossip from you."

Sirius's words felt like a slap in the face. She glared at him in shock for a moment.

"What the hell, Sirius? Do you think for even a second that I'd go around telling people about this?"

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair, frowning at his shoes.

"And yes, I wanted to be the one to tell you," Venus said quickly. "Exactly because of that, I thought it'd be better if you heard it from someone who cares about you, rather than someone like Snape."

Sirius glanced at her, his face softening.

"You care about me?"

Venus nodded, surprised to hear the disbelief in his voice.

"Yes, of course I care about you."

"Thanks, but… I really, really don't want to talk about it, okay? We can talk about literally anything else, just not that. It's probably not the smartest way, but ignoring it is the only way I've found to deal with it all."

"Yeah, all right," Venus said. "Whatever you want, Sirius."

" _Whatever_ I want?" Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Instead of the usual pang of annoyance mixed with fondness, Venus felt an overpowering urge to hug Sirius and make him feel better. She knew Sirius's humour and provocations were just his way of trying to put his barriers back up.

"Be quiet now and let me give you a hug," Venus said.

Venus held Sirius in her arms for a bit longer than she was used to. She had never liked hugs much and was very rarely the instigator, unless it was a Quidditch victory embrace, but she now found that she just liked being close to Sirius. She then proceeded to tell him about her encounter with the Slytherins.

"I'm going to curse Mulciber to oblivion next time I see him," Sirius growled.

"I'd do that myself, if only he wasn't always walking around with a dozen minions around him."

"Did Regulus say or do anything bad to you? I'm not exactly on speaking terms with him, but if he starts bothering my friends I'll have a nice little chat with him."

"No, he was actually kind of nice to me," Venus said. "That is, until I saw the mark."

They remained silent for a while, each lost in their own thoughts of hexing Slytherins, until Venus remembered the ominous mark on Regulus's arm.

"Look, Sirius, I'm sorry for all the times I was a bitch to you, when I was hanging out with James over the holidays and you were there and I was complaining about it. Yes, you were annoying as hell, but, well… I don't think I understood just what was going on for you at home."

"I remember one day, just before fifth year started, the minute you entered James's house and saw me, you threw a wobbly," Sirius said, and then he held his head high as he affected a higher, whiny voice. "James, why does he always have to be here? I can't stand being in the same room as him, I'm warning you!"

Venus grinned. She had to admit this was quite a good imitation of her fifteen-year-old self.

"I remember that day, because I hadn't seen you in almost two months and it was like your tits had suddenly appeared out of nowhere over the summer."

"So that's why you were acting so weird!" Venus said. "I remember that day, too. In over six years I've known you, it's probably the only day you actually shut up."

Venus frowned at Sirius, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?"

"I had no idea you were looking at me like that," Venus said. "Not at the time, anyway."

Sirius held up his hands.

"Sorry to break it to you, but most men and boys look at you that way. Even fifteen year old me, who found you extremely annoying. Even Remus Lupin, and believe me, that's saying something."

"Remus? No way. He doesn't."

"Yes, he does," Sirius said stubbornly.

Venus shook her head and rubbed her cold hands together, trying to get them to warm up. Her throat was starting to be a bit sore and her voice was getting raspy. She was starting to think her choice of the Astronomy Tower at this time of year wasn't the best idea she had ever had.

"You're damn cute when you're jealous."

Sirius actually blushed, and then pulled himself together.

"Cute?" Sirius said, wincing as though she had just insulted him. "You may say I'm brilliant. Charming? Yes. Sexy? Guilty as charged. But in no way am I _cute_."

Venus laughed.

"Are you done? Is the Sirius show over?"

"The Sirius show's never over," Sirius said, winking.

Venus shook her head and turned her back to him, leaning against the balustrade.

"The trouble with you is I never know when you're being serious," Venus said.

Venus started as Sirius put his arms around her waist, standing behind her.

"The trouble with you is you take things too seriously."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yeah, it'd do you good to relax a bit, just let go," Sirius said. "I could help you with that, you know."

Venus looked up at the stars, wondering if she should tell him that she would actually like him to help with that. She tried to fight against a whole army of butterflies colonising her stomach as Sirius's hand itched towards it.

"See that star?" Sirius said, directing Venus's gaze by gently moving her chin up and towards the left. "That's Sirius."

Venus snorted.

"Really? Does this usually work on girls?"

"Ssh, kitten," Sirius whispered in her ear. "I've never been star-gazing with a girl before. You're ruining everything. This is meant to be a very special moment."

"Sorry, honey," Venus said, biting her lip not to laugh again at Sirius's mock earnest tone. "Continue, please."

"That's quite all right, sweetie pie. And here, a bit more to the left, is Venus. See how bright it is?"

"This is so romantic," Venus whispered, with an exaggerated gasp. "It's literally written in the stars!"

Sirius laughed. His breath tickled the back of her neck, making her feel considerably less cold. She took a deep breath and placed her hands on top of Sirius's.

"Well, I guess since the whole school thinks we're doing it, we might as well just do it," Venus said. "Have sex, I mean."

Sirius became very still behind her. Venus started feeling slightly queasy as the silence stretched, and blamed herself for speaking before thinking it through.

"Have I managed to make Sirius Black speechless?"

Sirius cleared his throat and finally spoke.

"I'm trying to understand if you're kidding or not."

"I'm not. I didn't mean now, obviously," Venus said. "I just meant… one day, soon."

Sirius gently spun her around to face him. He looked much less self-confident than what she was used to.

"D'you want to?" Sirius said breathlessly.

"Yes," Venus said, suddenly finding it much easier to speak to Sirius's forehead than looking him in the eye. "So do you, right?"

Sirius smiled.

"Yeah, I think I made that pretty clear the other day. Unfortunately, it's not something we men can hide," Sirius said, and then he chuckled and shook his head. "It's a bit… unusual, you know, you bringing it up this way. I don't think girls usually do that."

"Don't they? Well, maybe they should," Venus said, shrugging. "At least, we both know what to expect."

"That's true. But of course we'll wait until you're ready, I don't want you to feel pressured or anything. And hopefully we'll find a moment when we're both more in the mood for -"

"Oh, hello, you two!"

Venus started, and turned to see Callie appearing at the top of the stairs next to a tall bespectacled boy from the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

"Fancy seeing you here," Callie said, smiling broadly and wiggling her eyebrows.

Venus gritted her teeth, but Sirius gave them a charming smile.

"Hey, Callie. The place is all yours, we were just leaving," Sirius said.

They left a curious looking Callie and the boy at the top of the tower, and hastened down the staircase, eager to find warmth again.

"By the way, I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier, when I was talking about Snape," Sirius said suddenly after a long silence, stopping and turning towards Venus. "I didn't mean -"

"I know," Venus said gently. "Apology accepted. And don't worry, I won't say a word to anyone about what I saw."

Sirius grabbed her arm, cupped her face in his hand and pressed his lips gently on her cheek, making her yearn for more.

"Thank you," Sirius whispered.

Venus felt slightly dizzy, and she almost missed the step when she resumed walking. She was struggling to catch her breath, as though she was out of shape. She noted the strange feeling, wondering how to make it stop, and whether or not she really wanted to make it stop.

"My life was so much easier when I hated your guts," Venus muttered.

Sirius's laughter echoed up the staircase.

"If you want to seduce me, you're going to need to try harder than that, Vance."

"So far, I haven't even needed to try," Venus said arrogantly.

Sirius chuckled again.

"That's rubbish. Don't think I haven't noticed you've taken to wearing skirts when we meet, although it's really cold and you usually prefer trousers."

"Seems like you've been studying me," Venus said.

"Don't try to change the subject."

They reached the end of the staircase and continued walking down a long corridor. Venus, as per her habit, was striding so fast that Sirius had trouble keeping up with her.

"What was the subject?"

"You dolling yourself up for me," Sirius said, grinning.

Venus rolled her eyes.

"I'd stop that right now if I were you, if you want a chance to revisit our 'unusual conversation'."

A large group of chattering students pushed past them, probably on their way to the Great Hall. Venus suddenly felt very hungry, now that Sirius was at a safe distance from her and the butterflies had disappeared.

"Oh, is that what it's going to be like, now? You think you can just boss me around, don't you?" Sirius said, smirking. "That's not going to happen, I'm afraid. I'm not like James is with Lily, you know."

"Of course not! James's in _love_ with Lily," Venus said, and she made a face. "Please promise me you'll never ask me to marry you, or anything like that?"

"Merlin's pants!" Sirius said, laughing, and he held up his right hand. "All right. I solemnly swear I will never ask you to marry me."

"Good, that's a relief," Venus said in a businesslike tone, and she stopped as they reached two staircases going in opposite directions. "Well, I'm going down to the Great Hall for dinner."

"I'll go and see if the boys are still in the common room."

"All right, I'll see you later, then."

Venus made to leave, but Sirius grabbed her arm and pointed upwards.

"Mistletoe," Sirius said, grinning.

Venus looked up and raised her eyebrows at the offending plant. The day before, the Christmas decorations had been put up and she had been unknowingly standing underneath mistletoe while talking with Matthew Hawkins, the team's new Beater. Fortunately, she had managed to convince him a kiss on the cheek was enough.

"That's nice and all, but I really must get going," Venus said quickly.

The group of fifth years that had been walking behind them stopped to stare at them.

"Well, you know what they say, seven years of bad luck if you don't kiss underneath mistletoe," Sirius said earnestly.

There was now a dozen students around them, looking at them expectantly, whispering to each other. Venus could feel her irritation rising as she scowled at them. She wouldn't have been surprised if actual smoke was coming out of her ears.

"I don't believe in superstitions. I doubt you do, either."

"I don't," Sirius said suavely. "But I do believe you're a very good kisser."

Venus groaned, now annoyed at herself for the way Sirius was mesmerizing her back into a state of agreement.

"Why do you have to be so… so…"

"So wh -"

Sirius never finished his sentence, Venus having given up and decided to kiss him just to silence him. She stopped after the perfunctory, chaste kiss on the lips, but Sirius drew her back towards him and put an arm around the small of her back. She felt his tongue against her closed lips and instinctively opened her mouth, feeling her determination weaken instantly as the kiss deepened. She only pulled back, breathless, after she heard someone wolf-whistling, and some clapping and cheering.

"You!" Venus said, trying to catch her breath and pointing at Sirius's chest. "You…"

"Yes?" Sirius prompted, smiling broadly.

Venus looked around, relieved to see the small crowd had now scattered and only a pair of small, giggling girls were eyeing them curiously.

"I swear you will drive me _insane_ ," Venus said.

"In a good way, I hope."

Venus crossed her arms over her chest, trying to recover her dignity, which had uncharacteristically jumped out the window the second Sirius kissed her.

"There is no good way, is there?"

"I don't know, you tell me," Sirius said, leaning towards her conspiratorially, his smile so large that his dimples seemed engraved onto his cheeks. "Do you still want to take my clothes off?"

Venus huffed, pretending to be affronted, and pointed at Sirius's chest again, narrowing her eyes.

"You're walking on very thin ice, Sirius Black."

"Only way I like to walk."

Venus turned around, her head held high, pointedly ignoring the two girls still not missing a word of it.

"You know, you're pretty cool, for a girl," Sirius said to her back.

Venus found herself smiling as she went down the stairs towards the Great Hall, thinking this might just be Sirius Black's way of telling a girl that he really liked her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"We're a bit late."

Lily had just checked her watch for the eighth time in a row. James sighed. He had a sinking feeling the evening was not going to go down very well.

"Lily, five minutes late is not being late."

She pursed her lips and quickly checked her reflection in her pocket mirror. He couldn't remember her ever looking so pale.

"I just want us to give them a good first impression," Lily said.

"You mean you want _me_ to make a good first impression."

Lily gave him a weak smile. James grabbed her arm and squeezed it.

"Poppy, it's going to be just fine. You'll see."

James had recently taken up the habit of calling her with other flowers' names, which Lily found both slightly irritating and strangely endearing. Like everything else with James, she just warmed up to it gradually and ended up wondering how she could have disliked it in the first place.

"Just keep the mention of magic stuff to the minimum," Lily said. "No Quidditch, no wands, no spells, no broomsticks, no pure-bloods, no Voldemort."

James scratched his head.

"What _am_ I supposed to talk about, then?"

"Just let Vernon do most of the talking." Lily shrugged. "I've only met him once, but you'll understand that after five minutes in his company. Come on, let's go in."

James and Lily entered the dimly lit, elegant restaurant. A waitress took their coats and James looked down at the Muggle clothes they had borrowed from Lily's father at the last minute. James had prepared his own Muggle clothes for the occasion, but his old frayed jeans and his phoenix t-shirt had made Lily gasp. "You're not going to wear that?" Lily had told him, aghast. "James, that place is fancy, you need to dress appropriately." The mistake Lily had made had been to let James choose her father's clothes. He had done his best, but he suspected that the result was not a success.

"There they are," Lily said quietly, forcing a smile.

Lily headed towards a table where a fat, unpleasant looking man and a very thin young woman with blonde hair and a horse-like face were sitting. James could only guess she was Lily's sister, but he struggled to find any resemblance between her and Lily.

"Hello!" Lily said, in a strained voice quite unlike her usual tone. "Sorry we're a bit late. This is James Potter. James, this is Petunia, and Vernon."

There were awkward handshakes all around. Vernon squeezed James's hand so hard that James had to refrain a yelp. By comparison, Petunia's handshake was limp, and she let go of his hand after a second, as though afraid she might have been burnt. James and Lily sat down opposite Vernon and Petunia. That place was fancy all right, James thought. Vernon Dursley was clearly trying to impress them. James winced as he went through the menu. He wasn't very used to converting to Muggle money, but he was pretty sure that place was extremely expensive.

"So, Vernon," Lily said, breaking the silence. "Your job at Grunnings, what does it consist of exactly?"

Vernon launched into a detailed explanation of his job, with Lily nodding and whispering 'yes' and 'I see' at all the right moments. James, however, couldn't bring himself to care. He found the beefy man hilarious, and the idea that Lily's sister wanted to marry him, was even more laughable. From time to time, James glanced at Lily's serious face and reminded himself that he should try and behave. When Vernon said something particularly ludicrous, and temptation was too strong, James retreated behind his menu to snigger silently. He suspected that Petunia had caught him smiling, but he just couldn't help it. Vernon only stopped talking when the waiter came to take their orders.

"I'll take the Seven hour Salt Marsh lamb, potato and olive oil gratin," Vernon said.

"No starter for you, sir?", the waiter asked.

"No, you only have snails, frogs, and whatnot," Vernon said. "And I won't have any of that foreign nonsense. I will also have the T-bone steak."

"But, sir, it is for two."

"Yes, I know," Vernon said.

James snorted. Petunia shot daggers at him, and Lily hit his thigh under the table. The waiter left, and James managed to get his face to look serious again.

"So, tell me, what car do you drive? I've got a Rover SD1, all new, quite a beauty if I do say so myself. And made in Britain, none of that Japanese junk."

James stared dumbfounded at Vernon. Lily glanced at James and then opened her mouth, but James spoke before she did. He didn't want to make it look like Lily had to speak on his behalf.

"I don't need a car," James said. "I've got a Nimbus 1500, it's the finest there is. It's extremely fast and easy to handle. Yes, really, it's the best broomstick around at the moment."

"Broomstick?" Vernon barked.

"I'm sure your car is really nice," Lily said quickly. "Our dad has a Rover as well, doesn't he, Tuney?"

Petunia tugged at her thin blonde hair and scowled at her sister.

"Don't call me that," Petunia said.

James, noticing at once the hurt look on Lily's face, put his arm around Lily for a moment and patted her shoulder, smiling gently. There was a long silence. James struggled to understand how his smart, beautiful and kind girlfriend could be related to that nasty, envious, horse like creature. Petunia was just a poor excuse for a sister, and the evening was proving to be even more painful than James had thought it would be.

"Anyway," James said to no one in particular. "At least I know what a car is. Many people are surprisingly ignorant of these things. Take Sirius, for example."

"Sirius is James's best friend," Lily said to Petunia and Vernon by way of explanation.

Vernon choked on the piece of bread he was eating. Petunia looked annoyed.

"Yeah, he is, top bloke, you should really meet him, so as I was saying, he is clueless about all this Mug - all this stuff. Last summer, he was with these girls that we'd met in a bar."

Lily raised her eyebrows at him.

"That _he_ had met in a bar, I mean, and they took a taxi together, but the funny thing was Sirius had no idea what a taxi was when he agreed to it."

"How is it possible that he had no idea what a taxi was?" Vernon said, frowning suspiciously.

"That's exactly why my friend Remus said, he thinks he should all be more aware of all this. But then, it was hilarious, because Sirius said – "

"I don't suppose any of your friends have _normal_ names," Petunia snapped.

James's smile vanished, and he rolled his eyes, wondering what on earth these people did not have a problem with.

"I guess you lot all live off of unemployment benefits," Vernon growled. "With names like that, who would hire you?"

"I certainly would not," Petunia said, sniffing.

"Do you, then?" Vernon asked, looking pointedly at James.

"Do I what?" James said, loudly.

James was losing the small amount of patience he had. When he thought about all the bad things Lily had told him about the way Petunia treated her, it made him want to scream. Lily place her hand on top of James's, but James kept his gaze on Vernon.

"Take advantage of unemployment benefits."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," James said slowly, glancing briefly down at Lily's hand. "But if you are implying that I don't have a job, well I don't, 'cause we still have a few months of school left. And I'll have you know, there _are_ jobs in the wizarding world."

Petunia's face was suddenly drained of the little colour that it usually displayed.

"Keep your voice down, you fool," Petunia hissed.

Petunia and Vernon looked around wildly. James sat up taller, raising his eyebrows, the volume of his voice rising.

"Not that I'll even need a job," James said. "Actually, my parents have a lot of gold saved up in Gringotts, and I'm their only child."

That was the last straw for Vernon and Petunia. James could see that the mention of gold, something Muggles also knew about and used, had struck a chord.

"Gold?" Petunia said faintly.

"Yeah, gold," James said defiantly.

Vernon grunted. His face was turning more red by the second, and he was gripping his fork very hard.

"Not that it matters," Lily said quickly. "James is not this type of person at all. Actually, we think we might join this secret group that is trying to, er, stop this very bad and dangerous – er, person."

James had barely noticed that the waiter was back.

"Anyone for pudding?" the waiter asked, smiling uncertainly.

Vernon's face was purple, and Lily's was also flushed, though not as much. Nobody was speaking, but they all took the menus from the waiter's hands. James wondered how he would get through that dinner without hexing Vernon or Petunia, or both.

"We'll think about it," Petunia finally said to the waiter.

The waiter stopped smiling, nodded and left. As soon as the waiter was out of earshot, Vernon, who still looked furious, suddenly stood up.

"I've heard enough," Vernon hissed. "I don't want to ever hear again about Quiddotts, Gringditch and whatever other nonsense you keep rambling about! And I certainly don't want to hear about what someone named Sirius thinks about cars, or about anything, for that matter! Petunia, we are _leaving_."

Vernon slammed his napkin on the table and looked at Petunia, who was still sitting, frozen, on her chair. Petunia looked from Vernon to Lily, who now seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"This was a bad idea, Lily," Petunia said coldly, as she finally stood up.

"And _you_ can get the bill," Vernon said to James contemptuously, "since you're rolling in it!"

With that, Vernon stormed off, Petunia on his heels. Lily was sobbing, which made James's chest constrict until he felt like he could barely breathe.

"I'll do better next time," James said, placatingly patting Lily's shoulder. "I promise. He just - they're just - damn it, Lily, it was too much. I wasn't expecting that. But next time I'll be prepared, I swear, I'll apologise to him, and I'll get them both to like me, or at least, tolerate me."

"I don't know, James." Lily dabbed at her eyes with a tissue; she had stopped crying. "Do you really think so?"

"Yeah, it'll be all right, you'll see."

James forced a smile as the waiter brought him the bill.

* * *

It had started snowing. Not for the first time, Sirius wondered if he was doing something he would regret later. After all, James had told him they would meet directly at the restaurant at seven o'clock, he had likely told the same to Venus. She would probably be surprised to find him on her front door, as if he had come to pick her up for a date, which was obviously not what he was doing. But what he was actually doing, he didn't really know. And the person who answered the door was definitely not who he expected to see.

"Padfoot?"

"Prongs! Hi!"

Sirius grinned idiotically. James was frowning and holding the door as if he was wondering whether or not he should let Sirius in.

"What are you doing here?" Sirius said.

"My mum wanted to catch up with Venus's mum, I figured I'd just tag along and then go with Vee to the restaurant. What are _you_ doing here?"

"Can I come in? It's freezing out here."

"Of course, mate, come on in. Sorry, it's just a surprise to see you, that's all. Nice surprise, though."

"Who is it, JP?" Venus said from the top of the stairs, as she started walking down the steps.

"Your Prince Charming," James said in an undertone, so that only Sirius would hear.

James sniggered, and swiftly moved away as Sirius pretended to hit him. As Sirius took off his coat, someone called James and he walked away in the direction of the kitchen, muttering about being mollycoddled. Venus walked down the stairs and then came closer to Sirius in the dimly lit hallway, stood up on tiptoes and ruffled his hair.

"Hi, Sirius. You've got snow in your hair, you lunatic," Venus said, smiling. "How long were you standing out there?"

"Never mind that! Now, won't you say hello to me properly?"

Sirius put his arms around Venus and pulled her closer. He kissed her cheek and then her neck, one hand sliding further and further down her back.

"Don't, my-" Venus said.

The door behind which James had disappeared opened again, and a tall, dark-haired man stepped in the hallway.

"Father's here," Venus finished.

Sirius knew he should probably let go of Venus, but his whole body froze as he stared in shock at the man, who actually looked as appalled as him. There was a silence, and then the man spoke in a low growl.

"Maybe you could take your hands off my daughter and come and shake my hand?"

Sirius shook himself out of his trance and walked over to Venus's father. He was very tall, even a bit taller than Remus, but unlike Remus, his height was somehow menacing. Maybe it was the broad shoulders and the aura of power that emanated from him.

"I'm William Vance. And you are?"

William Vance's eyes were the same colour as his daughter's, but his were as hard as steel.

"I'm Sirius," Sirius said, resisting the urge to add 'sir', wincing as William shook his hand in a grasp of iron.

"Sirius…" William frowned, looking intently at him. "You mean Sirius Black?"

"Can't say I'm proud of that name," Sirius said.

"I thought you said you couldn't stand the Black kid," William said, looking over at Venus.

"Well, we're friends now," Venus said in a clipped tone.

"Oh, yes, I can see you two are certainly friendly," William said, glaring at Sirius.

Sirius wanted nothing more than to crawl onto the floor, curl up in a ball and wait for Venus's father to leave.

"I assure you there's nothing untoward going on, sir," Sirius said.

Sirius couldn't recognise the sound of his own voice, let alone his words. This was something that Remus would say, not him, never in a million years. He heard Venus's snort of amusement behind him.

"Weren't you leaving, Dad?"

"Yes, I am, actually," William said, grabbing his cloak and putting it on. "I can see you're in a hurry to get rid of me. Well, I'll see you on Christmas Day, darling."

William gave his daughter a quick, one-arm hug. Sirius stood with his back against the wall, trying to somehow disappear behind it, and hoping he would not be addressed again. But William turned and pointed at him.

"I've got my eye on you, Black," William said.

"Yeah, sure, goodnight, Dad." Venus ushered her father out, closed the front door behind him, and started laughing as she looked at Sirius. "The look on your face!"

Sirius exhaled loudly, a hand on his chest.

"You could've told me your dad was scary as hell!"

"I didn't want to risk discouraging you."

Venus put her arms around Sirius's neck, grinning up at him.

"Takes more to discourage me," Sirius said. "It's not funny, by the way. You're not the one he's going to kill the day he finds out I've taken his little girl's virginity."

"After that's actually happened, you mean," Venus whispered in Sirius's ear. "So, does that mean we're going to do something untoward, _sir_?"

Sirius's cheeks coloured slightly, and he gently pushed her away as she chuckled.

"He just wanted to impress you. It's his thing. But don't worry, he's not going to do anything to you, I promise."

Venus was still laughing as they entered the kitchen. James's and Venus's mothers greeted Sirius warmly, and he quickly felt like himself again.

"So, James dear, I heard you're dating Lily now?" Vivian Vance said.

"Yes, we had her over for dinner yesterday." Euphemia Potter looked at her son, beaming. "She's such a lovely girl. I used to think that no one would ever be good enough for my son, but even I have to admit, it seems that she is."

"I've always liked that girl," Vivian said, nodding. "What about you, Sirius, have you got a girlfriend?"

"Mum, honestly!"

Sirius and James were both trying hard not to laugh. Euphemia had stopped preparing tea and turned to them, amused.

"No, I don't," Sirius said.

"Oh, that's interesting," Vivian said, and she glanced not so discreetly at her daughter, smiling.

Venus covered her face with her hands.

"I'm going to use a silencing spell on you, Mum," Venus said through gritted teeth, uncovering her face and scowling at her mother. "You leave me no choice."

"Come on, pumpkin, I'm only asking a question, I'm not trying to marry you off!"

Venus groaned as the two boys snorted with laugher again.

"What a nice dress, Venus, dear," Euphemia said. "You look lovely."

Venus was wearing a red dress and black knee-high leather boots to be able to face the cold while watching the match.

"Thank you, Mrs P," Venus said, giving her a grateful smile.

"Yeah, nice dress, pumpkin," Sirius said, smirking.

James sniggered.

"Sod off, Sirius."

"Venusta, for the umpteenth time, _don't_ swear," Vivian said.

"It's their usual way of communication," James said mildly. "All right, I think we'd better head out, it's almost seven."

"Venus, do try to keep these two out of trouble," Euphemia said.

"I'll do my best, Mrs P."

"Suck-up," James whispered, smiling.

* * *

They went to meet Lily and had dinner in an Italian restaurant recommended by Venus's mother. Two restaurants in less than a week - James felt very grown-up indeed. He felt so happy that he went a bit overboard with the displays of affection, holding Lily's hand whenever possible and kissing her as often as he could, though he tried to restrain himself to sensible pecks on Lily's cheek or lips. James tensed up as Lily recounted their dinner with Petunia and Vernon. He simply couldn't stand the hurt look on Lily's face. He took Lily's hand and started kissing it.

"Ugh, for Merlin's sake," Sirius said, wrinkling up his nose haughtily.

"Honestly, get a grip on yourself, JP," Venus said. "Do we really need to watch you doing this?"

"Sorry, but no one's forcing you to watch," James said, shrugging.

James knew that what his friends were asking for was only reasonable. But he also knew that he just couldn't be reasonable where Lily was concerned. He did feel sorry for his friends for a moment, and he couldn't help but wish that Sirius and Venus would keep themselves busy with each other. He had wished this for so long that sometimes he thought it would actually never happen, that Sirius and Venus were just too proud and stupid to actually do something about it. Sometimes, James worried that Sirius would never really open up to anyone else the way he did with him.

"You're right in front of us," Sirius said.

"They do have a point, James, let's try to turn it down a notch for a while," Lily said, squeezing James's hand.

Sirius rolled his eyes. From that point onward, if anything was happening between James and Lily, at least it was being done under the table and out of sight. But by the time the waiter arrived to take their orders for desserts, they were snogging. Sirius and Venus looked at each other.

"Want to get some fresh air?" Sirius said.

"Yes, please," Venus said, and then glanced at the waiter standing expectantly next to their table. "No dessert for us, thank you."

They both stood up, grabbed their coats and went outside into the cold night.

"Bloody hell."

"Yeah." Sirius took a long exhale and laughed. "Bloody hell indeed."

"Next time James asks us to go somewhere with just him and Lily, maybe we should just say no, or at least make sure there's more people."

Venus saw there was a bar across the road, with rock music blasting out of the door currently held open by a two thin men wearing leather jackets. Sirius followed her gaze.

"Have you been to this place?" Sirius said. "It's really neat."

"Never been. Looks cool, though."

Venus watched as a group of laughing people entered the bar, and saw the sign above the door, reading _The Dragon's Den_.

"We could go there after the game," Sirius said.

A nasty breeze made them both shiver. Venus nodded and put her coat tighter around her.

"All right, I'll go and see if they'll have live music later tonight," Sirius said, and he headed for the bar.

After a couple of minutes, Venus was getting really cold and was wondering if she should maybe wait inside the restaurant, when a group of young men passed by, and one of them called her name. Venus stared in shock as Caradoc Dearborn walked towards her. She had not seen nor heard from him since her birthday party four months ago.

"Hi, Venus," Caradoc said, his expression unreadable. "It's been a while, how are you doing?"

"I'm all right, thank you, and you? I'm quite excited about the Quidditch Gala game."

Caradoc gestured at his friends to wait for him, as they had continued walking.

"Yeah, we're going there, too," Caradoc said.

There was a rather awkward silence. Venus was wondering whether to bring up the lie that Caradoc had told Sirius about sleeping with her, and give Caradoc a piece of her mind. But then, she thought reasonably as she opened her mouth, she only had Sirius's word for it, and there was already water under the bridge anyway. At that moment, Sirius reappeared. Caradoc narrowed his eyes and curled his lip.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your date."

Venus turned to Sirius, expecting him to quickly deny it, but Sirius remained silent. His arm had somehow found its way around Venus's waist.

"We're not-" Venus started.

"I need to go, my friends are waiting for me," Caradoc said. "Enjoy the game."

Caradoc strode towards his friends with his head held high before they could think of anything else to say. Sirius sniffed, staring haughtily after Caradoc.

"What a tosser!"

"I can't believe you," Venus said.

Venus grabbed Sirius's hand to snatch his arm away. He sighed and held his hands up in the air.

"Okay, I've got to admit, I acted like a bit of an idiot at your birthday party, and I'm sorry about that."

Venus goggled at him.

"D'you realise I've been waiting for four months for you to say that?"

"Better late than never?" Sirius said, with a hopeful smile.

Venus shook her head again.

"You act like a bit of an idiot whenever Caradoc's around, by the looks of it."

Sirius remained silent. Another group of men passed by, chattering loudly. For a moment, he wished he was amongst them, just lads having a good time, with none of the complexities that seemed to come with girls.

"By the way, what about the bill for dinner?" Venus said.

"James said he'd get it."

Sirius had been relieved when James had offered to pay for them all, as Sirius knew James would pay for Lily at least, and he had been wondering whether or not he should pay for Venus, and what would be her reaction either way.

"That's really nice of him." Venus nodded, smiling for the first time since they had left the restaurant. "Although that just compensates for their obnoxious behaviour."

Sirius stepped closer to Venus and placed his hands on her hips, making puppy eyes at her.

"Any chance I can make it up to you, Princess?"

Sirius felt much warmer as Venus smiled and pulled him in for a kiss. Suddenly he didn't envy the group of boys anymore.

"We don't seem to be very good at talking these days, you and I," Venus said.

"I hope you don't think I don't like talking with you, because I really do," Sirius said, as he put his hands back into his coat's pockets. "I just find it difficult to concentrate on the speaking part sometimes."

"Why's that?"

Sirius smirked, leaning in close to her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw James and Lily coming out of the restaurant.

"Too busy thinking about all the things I want to do to you."

"You're so cheeky," Venus said, looking at him in a way that he thought was at least as cheeky as his words.

Sirius and Venus waited as patiently as they could while James and Lily exchanged long goodbyes. Eventually, they all waved goodbye at Lily and watched as Lily walked away, her long ponytail swinging from side to side.

"You're screwed, mate," Sirius said, shaking his head at James's smitten expression. "You know she's got you under her thumb."

"Maybe… but I can tell you, I've never felt better."

James grinned from ear to ear, and Sirius couldn't help but smile back at him.

* * *

The Grand Christmas Quidditch Gala match held all its promises. James and Venus's enthusiasm was contagious, and Sirius found himself cheering along with them every time Scott McCormack scored. Beers flew like water and by the time the match was over, they couldn't really feel the cold anymore. The band playing at the Dragon's Den was very good, and time seemed to pass by extremely fast. Venus was in a good mood, and even James started noticing something was up. When Venus went to the bar to get some water, James turned to Sirius, a teasing smile tugging at his lips.

"Come on, Padfoot, spit it out. What's the deal with you two? You've either seduced her, or poisoned her. Since you're my best friend, I'm willing to put my Galleons on option one, although option two's probably more likely."

Sirius remained silent for a while, and when he finally spoke, he kept his gaze on the wall in front of him.

"All right, don't make a big deal out of it, but yeah, it's option one, I guess."

"To be honest, I've had my suspicions for a while now. But when were you going to tell me?" James said, somewhat whiningly.

"When there's really something to tell."

"Ah, d'you mean when you've-"

Sirius nodded.

"So you haven't-"

"Not yet," Sirius said, and then he paused, examining the contents of his glass. "Prongs, you don't think I'm punching above my weight going after her, do you?"

James raised his eyebrows.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that. You're usually bored with how easy it is for you with girls, you smug little wanker."

"Yeah, well, she's not like other girls, is she?" Sirius said, and then shook his head. "Bugger, I can't believe I've just said that."

James suppressed a smile, and finished his glass.

"Don't worry, I felt the same when I was trying to get Lily to go out with me. I think it's natural when you really like someone, and you feel like-"

"Whoa, let me stop you right here, Prongs. Spare me your feelings talk, okay? I don't need it. This - this is not a 'feelings' kind of thing."

James chuckled at the horrified look on Sirius's face.

"As you wish. Just take good care of her, will you? I know she says she can take care of herself and she can, but she's not half as hard-hearted as she wants people to believe. Same goes for you. Actually, maybe I should go and tell _her_ to take good care of you."

"Silence, Potter." Sirius rolled his eyes at James's insufferable smirk. His cheeks were a bright shade of pink. "I knew I shouldn't have told you anything."

They remained silent for a while, listening to the music. Sirius was trying to recover from his embarrassment, and James tactfully pretended to be absorbed in his contemplation of the dance floor.

"Right, I'm going home," James said, after checking the time and realising it was past one o'clock. "Mum's taking me Christmas shopping tomorrow morning. That'll be exhausting. I definitely need to get some sleep."

"Poor little Potter, it must be so hard being showered with love and presents."

James winced. The alcohol had made him remember too late that Sirius didn't have a well-meaning mother to buy him clothes he didn't even want.

"Sorry, Padfoot. Actually, d'you want to join?"

"No, thanks. Last time your mum took me shopping, she almost threw away my leather jacket and tried to force a 'sensible blazer' on me, remember?"

"Yeah, good times." James grinned, and patted Sirius's shoulder. "All right, I'll see you the day after tomorrow, then? You're still coming for Christmas Eve, right?"

"Of course. Looking forward to it. Look, are you sure you want to leave?"

Sirius found that his usual bravado had disappeared completely. He wondered what he should say to Venus when she came back and found James gone.

"You'll be fine. Don't forget, you're my favourite smug little wanker. Have a good night, Padfoot," James said, winking.

Sirius said goodbye and watched him leave, suddenly feeling like a deflated balloon. A moment later, Venus came back and Sirius drank a large gulp of his Firewhiskey.

"Where's James?"

"He's gone home," Sirius said, avoiding her eye. "D'you mind staying a bit longer?"

Venus took a sip of her water and grinned.

"I'll stay, if you promise to dance with me."

"Why do girls always want to dance?" Sirius grumbled.

They talked for a while, until Venus convinced Sirius to dance. At least there were not any slow dance involved, Sirius thought with relief. He even managed to have fun. Like with the Quidditch, Venus's enjoyment was contagious. Something switched off inside of him and for the first time, he danced without any feeling of embarrassment or self-consciousness. He found himself thinking that all in all he had had a very nice time, and even if nothing further happened, he would be happy with it. He was therefore pleasantly surprised when Venus suddenly pinned him against the wall and kissed him. It was a long while before Venus pulled back and looked at him expectantly.

"Sirius, do you - I mean, I was thinking, maybe we could go to your place?"

Sirius stared at her for a moment, hoping he had heard her correctly over the heavy music.

"Yes, of course. I was just waiting… Well, I wanted to make sure this was what _you_ wanted."

"This - you - is very much what I want," Venus said in Sirius's ear, nibbling his earlobe.

"All right then, grab your coat, we're going," Sirius said quickly, suddenly feeling like he wasn't able to wait any longer.

"Right now? You haven't even finished your drink yet."

Sirius chuckled and shook his head. He had completely forgotten the glass of Firewhiskey abandoned on the table near them.

"Vee, I don't think you understand. Right now I couldn't care less about anything other than you and the fact that I'm about to have sex with you. I'd tell you how many times I've fantasised about it, but I've got my pride."

Venus smiled, took Sirius's hand firmly in hers and led the way out. Not for the first time, Sirius admired her self-confidence and the way she held her head high, in an almost regal manner. He also liked how her cool and collected stance sometimes dissolved suddenly into sauciness. This was definitely a side of her he was getting acquainted with more and more lately.

"I'm not sure how I'll manage to wait, actually," Sirius said. "I've got to think of something that puts me off for a bit."

"Just think of what my father would say to you if he knew."

Venus thanked the man who held the door of the bar open for them, and laughed at Sirius's aghast expression.

"Well done, that's put me off all right," Sirius said.

"Not me. The fact that my father disapproves of you is just another turn-on for me."

Sirius smiled and squeezed Venus's hands.

"I guess I should thank him, then."

* * *

"Sorry about the mess," Sirius said once they were inside his apartment, gesturing vaguely around at the clothes randomly piled up on a chair and the few empty cups and glasses on the coffee table.

"It's not that bad."

It wasn't bad at all, actually, Venus thought as she looked around curiously. She had often wondered what Sirius's flat looked like, and it was actually kept in a better condition than what she had imagined. Yes, it was a bit messy in places, but it wasn't dirty; Sirius was obviously decent at performing cleaning spells. She wouldn't have gone as far as saying it looked homely, but it was the home of an eighteen-year-old boy who only spent a few weeks a year living there, so it was to be expected.

"Not as bad as you expected, you mean?"

"I still can't believe you've got your own place," Venus said. "It's so cool."

There was a full moon calendar on the wall of the living room, currently showing an almost full moon. She briefly wondered how Remus was doing, and told herself she would write to him before Christmas Day.

"I hope you still think it's cool when I burn your breakfast tomorrow morning."

Venus smiled, imagining Sirius juggling with burning pans. Curious to see if there actually was anything to cook with, she went to have a quick look at the small kitchen and then came back into the living room, chuckling.

"You actually do have pots and pans and stuff to cook. Is that to impress girls?"

Venus was joking, but Sirius looked earnest as he replied.

"No, you're the only girl I've ever brought in here, actually."

Venus turned her back to him to hide her pleased smile, and pretended to look at the pictures on the wall. She saw a photo of James, Sirius, Peter and Remus at what looked like the end of year feast of their first year at Hogwarts. Their bright, innocent smiles gave her a sharp pang of nostalgia. She had forgotten how very young and tiny they all were at the time.

"Cute," Venus said, pointing at the picture.

"For our purposes here tonight, it's probably better if you think of me as a man, not as a twelve-year-old."

"Oh, don't worry, babe, I think you're very manly," Venus said, stifling a laugh as she gave him a cheeky glance.

Sirius shook his head, smirking.

"Come here and I'll show you, you little minx."

Sirius leapt on her and started kissing her hungrily, then led her towards the bedroom. She sat down on the bed and took a deep breath as she tried to ignore the jittery feelings she was so unused to. Sirius sat down next to her, stroke her hair and kissed her lips gently.

"Are you all right, my Princess?"

Venus noted the first appearance of the possessive form of what had somehow become her nickname, and found that she didn't mind it at all. In fact, it helped a lot to ease her nerves.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit nervous, that's all."

"Obviously we can stop whenever, if you-"

"No," Venus said quickly.

Sirius smiled, and Venus took off her clothes, throwing them carelessly one by one to the floor. He just stared at her for a long time without speaking. She squirmed under his intense gaze, wondering if she should just crawl under the blankets and wait for it to be over. A chuckle escaped her as she looked at his shocked face.

"Are you dead?"

"Possibly," Sirius said, sounding as awestruck as he looked. "Quite possibly. Some sort of… brain explosion. Maybe you should, you know, touch me, check if I'm alive."

Venus smiled and kissed him, pulling him towards her.

"Maybe now'd be a good time to take off your clothes, too, don't you think?"

"Right. Yeah, of course." Sirius took off his t-shirt in one swift gesture. "But I'm warning you, if you laugh when you see me naked I'm not going to take it very well."

"Not going to laugh," Venus said, watching as he wiggled to remove his jeans. "Sorry I did before, it's just… it makes me nervous. Being naked, with you. Sirius. Oh."

She looked at him in the same unabashed way as he had stared at her. So this was what a boy looked like naked, she thought. So this was what Sirius Black looked like naked. She felt hot and cold at the same time, and thought she had probably lost the ability to speak. He slid a hand slowly up her thigh and she instinctively pulled him towards her, placing her legs around his waist and pressing him down against her. Lying there naked, thighs spread open, with the weight of him on top of her, she felt entirely at his mercy. What she hadn't expected was how much that would arouse her.

"Wait," Sirius said, chuckling, his breath tickling her neck. "Wait a minute, Princess, not yet. We've got to get you… ready, first."

Sirius kissed her neck and she was vaguely aware of the fact that she was whispering his name as he continued following a trail of kisses down towards her breasts. Then he looked up at her and smiled devilishly. His eyes looked darker than usual, and she felt a thrill of excitement go through her entire body.

"A word of warning: I lick all sorts of body parts. I hope you don't mind."

* * *

"After what we've just done, the last hopes of me doing any kind of studying for the rest of the year have sadly gone down the drain," Sirius said, lying on his side and looking at Venus. "So, I hope you'll want to do this again?"

Venus moved even closer to him, placed one leg over his waist and kissed him.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"You should take that as a hell, yeah," Venus said, smiling.

Sirius grinned back at her as she moved to sit on top of him. He stroked the small of her back, looking at her. She was quite simply the most beautiful girl he had ever met, and a small, selfish part of him couldn't help but want to claim her as his, even if it didn't fit with his vision of himself as an independent, cool, motorbike riding bachelor.

"Maybe we should… you know, I mean I wouldn't… er, yeah, no."

"Sirius, you're not making any sense."

Sirius forced himself to look at her in the eye. He registered the fact that his right leg was jiggling uncontrollably, the way it always did the rare times he felt nervous.

"Sorry, blood's not exactly rushing to my brain right now, hard to think, and all that. What I mean is, you don't want to do it with anyone else, right? 'Cause I don't. Want to do it with anyone else. You know."

Venus raised her eyebrows and stared at him for an impressively long time, her mouth hanging slightly open.

"Oh, I thought we'd said-"

"That's fine," Sirius said very quickly, feeling like a prize idiot. "This is stupid, I know, very stupid, right? We've talked about it before, right, and of course if you want to, you're free to do whatever you want with whoever you want, after all, who am I to-"

"Sirius! Will you shut up?"

She lay down on top of him, her body pressing against his making him stop talking instantly, although it certainly didn't help in getting more blood go to his brain.

"I don't want to do anything with anyone else, either," Venus said, burying her face in his neck and running a hand through his hair. She gently pulled at it and moaned as he started caressing her again. "Actually, I like you even more now that we've done this, even if you're not the smartest you can be right now."

Sirius made a sound that sounded like words in his head, but came out as an unintelligible growl. She smiled and rolled over so that he could be on top of her, and then he didn't have to use his brain again for a while, which was probably for the best.


End file.
